White House Down (2013)

White House Down is a 2013 American political action thriller film directed by Roland Emmerich about an assault on the White House by a paramilitary group and the Capitol Police Officer who tries to stop them. The film's screenplay is by James Vanderbilt, and it stars Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx, with Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, Jason Clarke, Joey King, and Richard Jenkins in supporting roles. The film was released on June 28, 2013 and grossed $205 million worldwide.

President of the United States James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) generates controversy over a proposed peace treaty between the allied nations to remove military forces from the Middle East. Divorced US Capitol Police officer John Cale (Channing Tatum) is currently assigned to Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson (Richard Jenkins) after saving his nephew's life during a tour in Afghanistan. Raphelson does not support the President's peace plans for the Middle East.

Cale hopes to impress his politically obsessed daughter Emily (Joey King) by getting a job interview for the Secret Service Presidential Detail, while also getting tickets for the two of them to tour the White House. However, his interviewer, Secret Service officer Carol Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a former college acquaintance of his, believes him to be unqualified due to his lack of respect towards authority, and subsequently deems him ineligible for the job.

In the meantime, disguised as a janitor, a man detonates a bomb at the center of the US Capitol building, causing the White House to be on lockdown. Finnerty is sent to escort the Speaker to an underground command center in the Pentagon, while Vice President of the United States Alvin Hammond (Michael Murphy) is taken aboard Air Force One. At the same time, mercenaries led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke), having infiltrated the White House by disguising themselves as audio-visual repairmen, quickly overwhelm the Secret Service, take the tour group hostage and seizes the White House. Cale manages to escape to go find his daughter separated from him during the tour. Retiring Head of the Presidential Detail Martin Walker (James Woods) escorts the President and his detail to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center. Once they gain access, Walker kills his detail, revealing himself to be the real leader who wants vengeance against President Sawyer after a botched black ops mission resulted in the death of his son. Cale kills a mercenary, takes his gun and radio, and rescues the President.

Walker and Stenz bring in Skip Tyler (Jimmi Simpson) to hack into the defense system, but still require the President to activate the nuclear football. One of the mercenaries, Carl Killick (Kevin Rankin) catches Emily recording a video of the mercenaries and takes her hostage. Cale and Sawyer contact the command structure, which uses Emily's video to discover the identities of the mercenaries, who used to work for various government agencies. Cale and Sawyer try to escape via a tunnel but find the exit gate rigged with explosives. They are forced into the garage and escape in the presidential limo, which is attacked by Stenz and flipped into the White House pool. After Sawyer and Cale are presumed dead in an explosion, Hammond is sworn in as the 47th President of the United States. While still alive, Cale and Sawyer learn that Hammond ordered an aerial incursion to take back the White House, but the mercenaries shot down the choppers. Having already learned of Emily from the video, Stenz takes her to Walker in the Oval Office. Tyler finally finishes hacking into NORAD and launches a missile to shoot down Air Force One, killing Hammond and everyone else on board. Raphelson is sworn in as the 48th President of the United States and orders an air strike on the White House.

Sawyer surrenders himself to Walker to save Emily. Walker forces Sawyer to use the football to launch the nuclear missiles against the various cities in Iran, which will result in retaliation by many countries. Sawyer refuses at first, while Cale sets various rooms on fire as a diversion. Down in the tunnels, Tyler attempts to escape after wiping his criminal past via the locked door, but accidentally detonates the explosives, killing him in the process. After killing most of the remaining mercenaries and freeing the hostages, Cale is confronted by Stenz and blows him up with a grenade belt during a fight. Sawyer attacks Walker, who ultimately gains the upper hand and uses him to activate the football before apparently shooting him dead. Walker begins locking the Iran's targets, but before he can initiate the launch, Cale crashes into the office and kills him. Emily waves a presidential flag on the front lawn, which forces the incoming fighter planes to call off the air strike. Cale presses Raphelson about having conspired with Walker to orchestrate the attack and proves it by having Finnerty dial his pager number. After reviving, Sawyer arrives and has Raphelson arrested. Sawyer names Cale as his new special agent, and takes him and Emily on a personalized aerial tour of DC.