Finally, the battle filmgoers have been anticipating for months is allowed its first real "tale of the tape" moment. White House Down, the similarly plotted action picture from Independence Day director Roland Emmerich, has a trailer, which we can now compare to the trailer for last week's Olympus Has Fallen.
Some thoughts: White House Down's trailer clocks in at 2:17, a full 13 seconds shorter than the original steaming hunk of Olympus Has Fallen served up back in January.
In terms of story, the trailer for Olympus Has Fallen holds the viewer's hand, walking him step-by-step through the major plot points: a) The FLOTUS is dead; b) Gerard Butler's Secret Service agent character is a disgrace; c) Asian people are menacing; d) Washington D.C. is a shooting range; e) Eckhart's prez won't negotiate with terrorists; f) the menacing Asian man doesn't negotiate either, so stalemate, bruh; g) the Washington Monument is a hot mess.
White House Down offers a less linear experience. Employing the static'n'shake style of a found footage picture, the trailer's opening stages the destruction of the Capitol like a news broadcast, invoking 9/11 in a more immediate way than the trailer for Olympus. Remember, nothing puts butts in seats faster than the collective memory of a wounded nation. (Point: Olympus Has Fallen.)
Thirty seconds into the White House Down trailer, you get a shot of Channing Tatum, that film's answer to Gerard Butler, but it's filtered through the clunky bars of a live news feed. Still, Tatum transcends formal constraints. His biceps are huge. (Point: White House Down.)
Then Air Force One catches a missile. Then a quote from Abraham Lincoln suggests that the explosions rocking the capital might be coming from within. (In other words, probably not North Korea. Point: White House Down.)
There's no piecing together a story, but it's all good because do you see how sleeveless Channing Tatum is? His arms are so bare that even certified bad motherfucker Jamie Foxx can only run a bit behind him, can only hit the deck under the comforting weight of Tatum's muscles. (Point: White House Down.)
Olympus Has Fallen sucks. White House Down? Trust in Tatum. It's worked before.
