Plot
U.S. President James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) proposes a controversial peace treaty between allied countries to remove military forces from the Middle East.
John Cale (Channing Tatum) is a U.S. Capitol Police officer assigned to Speaker of the House Eli Raphelson (Richard Jenkins) after Cale saved Raphelson's nephew's life during a tour in Afghanistan. Cale is struggling to develop a better relationship with his daughter Emily (Joey King), who has a strong enthusiasm for politics. He hopes to impress her by getting a job with the Secret Service, but his hopes are dashed when the interview is conducted by Carol Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal),
a former college acquaintance of his who believes him to be unqualified
due to a lack of respect for authority and follow-through. After lying
to Emily about the outcome of the interview, she and Cale join a tour of
the White House.
Meanwhile, a bomb is detonated at the center of the U.S. Capitol building,
killing scores of innocents when a mercenary disguised as a janitor
threw a bomb into a cart as he rolled and then abandoned in the center
of rotunda
before detonating. Raphelson, who was in the Capitol, remains unharmed
and is taken to an underground command center with Finnerty while Vice President Alvin Hammond (Michael Murphy) is taken aboard Air Force One.
The White House is put on lockdown separating Cale from Emily (who had
left the tour group to use the restroom). Meanwhile, disguised
mercenaries led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke),
start killing off most of the Secret Service and take the tour group
hostage, but Cale manages to take a gun and escapes a mercenary named
Killick (Kevin Rankin) to go find his daughter. Following protocol, retiring Head of the Presidential Detail Martin Walker (James Woods) escorts Sawyer and his detail to the Presidential Emergency Operations Center.
Once Sawyer gains access, Walker kills Sawyer's detail, revealing
himself to be the real leader and his desire for revenge over his son
who was killed in a botched black ops mission. Cale, who fails to find
Emily, kills a mercenary and takes his gun and radio. Using the radio,
Cale locates and rescues President Sawyer.
Walker and Stenz bring in Skip Tyler (Jimmi Simpson) to hack into the defense system, but they still require Sawyer to activate the nuclear football. They locate the remaining presidential line of succession, kill the Secretary of Defense,
and place rest of the line of succession with the hostages. Emily,
while hiding, records a video of the mercenaries and uploads it to YouTube before eventually being captured. Walker demands $400 million from the Federal Reserve
as ransom for the hostages. Cale and Sawyer manage to reach out to
command which tells Cale to get Sawyer out through underground tunnels.
At the command center, Finnerty uses Emily's video to discover the
mercenaries' identities, discovering that they used to work for various
government agencies and radical political groups. They are informed that
Stenz, a former Special Forces operative, was disavowed and burned on
mission, leading to his capture by the Taliban,
making his involvement one of retribution. They also discover that
Walker has an inoperable tumor, suggesting his involvement to be a
suicide mission and that the attack is not for ransom. Cale and Sawyer
find the tunnel gate rigged with an explosive and are forced to escape
with a presidential limousine.
After giving chase with Stenz on the White House lawn, Cale and Sawyer
are flipped into the White House pool after Cale gets distracted by
Killick holding Emily at gunpoint. A gunfight erupts which results in an
explosion that leaves Sawyer and Cale presumed dead. Hammond is then
sworn in as acting President.
When Cale and Sawyer reveal they are still alive, they learn Hammond
has ordered an aerial incursion to take back the White House. Knowing
the mercenaries have Javelin
surface-to-air missiles, Cale tries but fails to stop the mercenaries
from shooting down the helicopters. Cale gets into a fight with Stenz
and ends up dropping his White House passes for himself and Emily while
escaping. Having already learned of Emily from the video, Stenz, knowing
that she is Cale's daughter, takes her to Walker in the Oval Office. Meanwhile, Tyler finishes the upload to NORAD
and launches a missile at Air Force One, killing everyone on board,
including Hammond. Raphelson is then sworn in as acting President and
orders an airstrike on the White House. Finnerty informs Cale of
Raphelson's decision.
Walker tells Cale over the White House intercom to surrender Sawyer
or he will kill Emily. Sawyer ultimately surrenders himself to save
Emily, knowing Cale could still save them if he was free. However,
Sawyer refuses to activate the football. When Walker threatens to kill
Emily again, the alarms and sprinklers are set off by Cale setting
various rooms on fire. Tyler tries to escape by deactivating the bomb on
the tunnel gate, but discovers that it has been tampered with so it
goes off rather than disarms when he leaves. Killick finds Cale and
tries to kill him, but is ambushed by Donnie the White House tour guide (Nicholas Wright),
who bludgeons Killick to death with a bronze clock. After freeing the
hostages and entrusting Donnie to get them out safely, Cale kills Stenz
with a grenade belt after a confrontation. Sawyer attacks a distracted
Walker, who ultimately gains the upper hand and uses Sawyer to activate
the football before apparently shooting him dead. Using updated launch
codes received by an anonymous source, Walker targets various cities in
Iran, but before he initiates the launch, Cale crashes into the office
in a presidential escort vehicle and kills Walker with a minigun. When
Emily is told of the air strike, she takes a presidential flag and waves
it on the front lawn and gets the fighters to call off the attack.
Sawyer reveals himself to be alive as the bullet that hit him hit a pocket watch his wife (Garcelle Beauvais)
had given him. Finnerty calls them to reveal that the mercenaries were
not called in by Walker and that there is another mastermind behind the
attack. Cale realizes who it is and asks Sawyer for his help in exposing
the traitor.
When Finnerty arrives at the White House with Raphelson, Cale tells
them Sawyer was killed. Raphelson then orders troops to be placed back
into the Middle East, which would go against Sawyer's peace treaty. Cale
reveals Raphelson had orchestrated the attack because of Raphelson's
disagreement with Sawyer's treaty and proves it by having Finnerty call
the call-back number on the pager. Sawyer then reveals himself and has
Raphelson taken into custody, treating his taking of the Presidency as a
coup d'état.
Sawyer officially employs Cale into the Secret Service and takes him
and Emily on a personalized aerial tour of Washington, D.C. on his way
to the hospital. As a result of the events, the leaders of Russia, China, Israel, France and Iran agree to Sawyer's peace treaty.
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