The action thriller “White House Down,” which Roland Emmerich directed in 2013, centres on a terrorist attack on the Capitol. Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, and Maggie Gyllenhaal are among the actors who appear in the movie. A Middle Eastern Peace Plan proposed by President James Sawyer sparks debate among government leaders. After the suggestion, a group of terrorists launch an attack on the White House, kidnapping countless officials and ordinary citizens and putting the President’s life in peril. Security guard John Cale is now faced with the challenge of safeguarding both the President and his young daughter.
Here is all the information you need to know about the conclusion of “White House Down” if you’re interested in where this hostage crisis leads President Sawyer and John Cale and what it implies for the political atmosphere of the nation. Spoilers follow!
White House Down Plot Synopsis
James Sawyer, who is determined to transform the world while he is president, leads the American military withdrawal from the Middle East under his Peace Plan. In the meantime, John Clare, the House Speaker and Raphelson’s bodyguard, submits an application to become a Secret Service agent and secures permits for his daughter to visit the White House. On the day of the tour, John is interviewed by Deputy Secret Service Agent Carol Finnerty, who rejects his application because she believes he is unqualified for the position.
After that, the group tours the building with John and his daughter, Emily. A bomb goes off shortly after that in the centre of the White House. As commotion breaks out, John is forced to stay in a room by security officers and is unable to search for Emily, who earlier wandered off to the lavatory. Walker and his men work to securely convey Sawyer to PEOC, the White House Bunker beneath the library, as the terrorists, commanded by Emil Stenz, continue to take over the structure.
John was able to escape Stenz’s men’s grasp since they were now holding the tour group prisoner. Walker assassinates Sawyer’s security personnel outside the PEOC bunker, indicating his complicity in the terrorist assault. Walker is heard on a radio that John picks up from a terrorist, but before he can hurt Sawyer, he passes by the library. After John assists Sawyer in escaping the terrorists, the latter intends to make a satellite phone call to the SEAL.
In the meantime, Emily is captured and held hostage by the terrorists. Carol simultaneously transports Raphelson to the Pentagon command center’s underground location. When John and Sawyer are able to communicate with Carol, she suggests that they use the covert tunnels to flee. The Vice President is thinking about attacking the Capitol in the interim to get things under control, even if it means harming Sawyer and the populace.
John and Sawyer navigate the White House to the basement under Carol’s guidance while avoiding terrorists on all sides. The group finds bombs blocking the passage when they get to the tunnels. Through CCTVs, Walker also discovers their position, and his troops quickly raid the basement. Through the garage, John and Sawyer get away, starting a car chase on the White House grounds. Killick, Stenz’s deputy, however, holds Emily at gunpoint from the terrace in an effort to pressure the pair into giving up.
John becomes preoccupied as a result, misses an approaching attack, and smashes the presidential limo into the pool. Despite Carol’s objections, the Pentagon officials must presume Sawyer is dead while they observe the events. As a result, Sawyer is removed from his position and Vice President Alvin Hammond is sworn in as the new President.
However, John and Sawyer manage to survive the collision and make their way into the tunnels below. The two learn that newly elected President Hammond has directed special forces to attack the Capitol after getting in touch with Carol. John is aware that the terrorists can use their air javelins to repel the aerial assaults. He understands that Hammond has endangered the lives of the hostages, especially Emily, by directing an air strike. John is ultimately compelled to abandon Sawyer in order to try to save his daughter.
White House Down Ending: Why Did Walker Attack The White House?
Stenz discovers that John is linked to Emily after John’s battle with the terrorists on the White House rooftop. Walker then threatens to kill Emily if John doesn’t turn over Sawyer to his men over the PA system. Sawyer is unable to let Emily die for him in good conscience because he is aware of how much Emily looks up to him. He thus gives himself over to Walker.
For the past 25 years, Martin Walker has served as the presidents’ personal bodyguard. President Walker instinctively trusts Walker with his security as a result of this, despite the fact that Walker wasn’t hand-picked by Walker. Walker being revealed to have planned the entire attack on the Capitol comes as a huge surprise to him and the rest of his administration.
When Sawyer became office, he dispatched a clandestine team, which included Walker’s marine son Kevin, to attack Iran in response to reports of hidden nuclear weapons. Kevin died on the operation in vain because the operatives were unable to find any weapons in the nation. At first, Sawyer believes Walker wants to exact revenge on him for his son’s death. Likewise, Carol draws the same conclusion after hearing from Walker’s wife that he has cancer. Sawyer discovers that Walker’s final scheme is considerably more terrifying than the straightforward killing of the President, though.
Walker wants to avoid getting even with Sawyer, despite the fact that Kevin’s death prompts him to attack the Capitol. Walker wants to make sure that his son wasn’t killed in vain and holds Iran responsible. As a result, he wants to start a greater battle with the Middle East rather than see America reach a peace agreement. Skip Tyler, a former NSA analyst, is hired by Walker earlier in the takeover to break into the security systems that prevent him from obtaining America’s nuclear weapons. Walker needs Sawyer to unlock his nuclear football briefcase in order to authorise assaults now that Tyler has breached the final barrier.
Walker wants to destroy Iranian cities as his final act before passing away because his health is so poor. Although his aim is foolish and hazardous, he is committed to dying for it. Walker pulls a gun on Emily and threatens to shoot her if Sawyer won’t allow him access to the suitcase after Sawyer refuses.
Does John Save President Sawyer And Emily?
Walker threatens to kill Emily, but Sawyer refuses to back down. He then makes sure Emily is aware that if Walker has control over America’s nuclear power, he cannot put her life above the lives of the countless others that will be in danger. However, John starts a fire in several White House rooms, activating the building’s water sprinklers, before Walker can hurt Emily. Sawyer attempts to use John’s distraction to attack Walker with a pen, but Walker easily overcomes him and uses Sawyer’s hand to forcefully unlock the briefcase. Stenz and his soldiers are killed as John successfully frees the hostages.
Walker accesses the nuclear codes for the weapons in the Oval Office and trains the missiles over Iran. Walker shoots Sawyer in the chest because he no longer needs Sawyer to be alive—possibly as a minor but satisfying act of retaliation for Kevin’s passing. Raphelson gives the go-ahead for an airstrike on the White House as the Pentagon finds out about Walker’s access to the nuclear missiles. Carol disagrees with this choice, but Raphelson can’t take the chance of inciting a new World War with Iran.
Nevertheless, John is alerted to the airstrike by Carol, allowing him the opportunity to evacuate his daughter out of the structure. As a result, Walker is killed when John crashes his car through the wall of the Oval Office. He motions for Emily to leave the area while staying back to look for Sawyer. John continuously puts his life in danger for the President throughout the movie despite being turned down by the Secret Service. John does this because Emily, the most significant individual in his life, views Swyer as a hero.
The same justification prevents Emily from watching as the Pentagon bombs the White House while the Sawyer is still inside. She therefore brings the Presidential flag with her as she sprints to the lawn and waves it in the direction of the approaching airstrike. The pilots call off the attack because they didn’t want to bomb the White House in front of a young child. John eventually discovers Sawyer in the Oval Office, still alive and well. Sawyer’s life was saved by the Abraham Lincoln pocket watch he was wearing, which deflected Walker’s bullet.
How Did Walker Get The Nuclear Codes?
The nuclear football briefcase features a number of security measures that must be gotten past in order to access America’s nuclear weapons. Walker still requires a code to access the nuclear weapons even after his hacker grants him access to the briefcase and Walker unlocks it using Sawyer’s handprint. Only the President in office is permitted to use these codes, which are updated whenever the country’s President changes.
Walker therefore needs the assistance of the current President of the United States to obtain the codes. Carol also realises all the aggregators are on the Secret Service’s list of presidential threats after learning the identities of the terrorists through Emily’s secretly recorded videos because they all had personal grudges against Sawyer. Carol learns, however, that Walker never made contact with the criminals; instead, someone else from the White House did after looking into it more.
In the end, John discovers that Walker and Raphelson, the current president and former House speaker, worked together to remove Sawyer from his position as president. The wealthy defence industry executives who make money from wars were upset by Sawyer’s Middle Eastern Peace Plan. Raphelson opposed Sawyer’s proposal and wished to have him removed as a result of the same. Nevertheless, Raphelson is stopped before he can do more harm by John, Carol, and Sawyer. Raphelson is ultimately taken into custody, and Sawyer’s peace initiative is backed by a number of other nations. Sawyer moves on to carry out his plan now that John is a part of his security.
