History Film / WhiteHouseDown

* EmbarrassingRingtone: The ring tone on the cell phone of TheMole, who assisted those who took over the White House [[spoiler:by becoming Acting President, so he could send them the access codes to launch nuclear missiles to the Middle East]], is the main theme of ''Series/TheDatingGame'' (Herb Alpert's "Spanish Flea"). This creates MoodWhiplash during the denouement, where he's exposed to the President of the United States by redialing the terrorist BigBad's cell phone.

* BloodlessCarnage: [[spoiler:Walker]] gets a few good seconds of minigun to the chest, and rather than being reduced to several pieces of dead villain, is still quite intact.

* TheDragon: Stenz to Walker, [[spoiler: Walker to Raphelson]], Motts to Stenz.

** Donnie the tour guide could count as this, as well.
** Killick, of all people, gets like this when he winds up face to face with Roger Skinner.

* BottomlessMagazines: {{Averted}}. Weapons are shown running out of ammo and needing reloaded at multiple points in the film, and Cale keeps needing to steal weapons due to not carrying multiple magazines like the terrorists are.

* BrokenPedestal: [[spoiler:Martin Walker towards most of the Secret Service employees especially Carol and Ted, with the latter being killer by Walker himself]].

* TheLastDance: [[spoiler:Walker will be dead of a brain tumor in a few months, hence his willingness to go as far as he does.]]

* SmallRoleBigImpact: One of the Secret Service agents guarding the tour group fires at Killick. He gets killed, but he caused enough of a distraction for Cale to escape and cause havoc for the villains.

* {{Adorkable}}:
** Emily when she meets President Sawyer goes on full fangirly mode and even asks some serious questions about international relationships with other countries in great detail.
** Cale as well; in addition to his tendency to stammer when he gets flustered, his first scene involves him arguing with a squirrel.

* EngineeredPublicConfession: In the ending, Cale [[spoiler: is met by Acting President Ralpheson and says Sawyer is dead. He then confronts Ralpheson on how he was the one behind everything with the man snorting that there's nothing Cale can do as Ralpheson is now President and no one will believe him. At which point, a very much alive Sawyer steps out of the rubble and has Ralpheson arrested.]]

* ButNotTooEvil: At least two of the terrorists are described as white supremacists, but neither of them makes a single racist statement throughout the film. However, Killick, one of the supremacists, was described to have set a post office on fire for hiring too many African American workers.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: "It's gonna be a busy morning, boys."

* CastingGag: President Sawyer is played by Creator/JamieFoxx. The First Lady is played by Garcelle Beauvais, the same actress who played his love interest in ''Series/TheJamieFoxxShow''.

* CastingGag: President Sawyer is played by Creator/JamieFoxx. The First Lady is played by the same actress who played his love interest in ''Series/TheJamieFoxxShow''.

* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: A tank fires at the terrorists on the roof of the White House. Not only do they survive the massive explosion without a scratch and return fire within seconds, [[RuleOfDrama their piddly little RPG-7 manages to accurately fire upon and completely mission-kill an M1 Abrams tank]], a tank so durable other M1 tanks firing on it wouldn't stop it. This is also jarring as the terrorists are shown to possess FGM-148 Javelin missiles, which are specifically designed to destroy tanks.

* BadassGrandpa: [[spoiler:Despite being retirement age and dying from cancer, Walker is able to clear an entire room of Secret Service Agents in about four seconds and outfight a man 15-20 years his junior.]]

* CassandraTruth: Cale calls up a friend on Air Force Tw after being trapped in the White House with President Sawyer. She tries to blow his claims off as a bad prank, but Sawyer takes the phone and orders her to get him in touch with someone in charge.

* CassandraTruth: Cale calls up a friend on Air Force One after being trapped in the White House with President Sawyer. She tries to blow his claims off as a bad prank, but Sawyer takes the phone and orders her to get him in touch with someone in charge.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailers show [[spoiler: Air Force One being blown out of the sky, so anyone you see on the plane early on is doomed]].

* ConspicuousCG: Most sequences involving aircraft in flight at locations other than the White House.
** The Marine 1 approach near the beginning.
** The Delta Force chopper incursion through the city.
** The final scene.
** Most of the exterior shots of Air Force One. Except the scene where it's [[spoiler: shot down]], the CG in that scene is much better.
** The F-22 raptors.

* TheSociopath: Killick, one of the mercenaries, is explicitly said to be one.

* SoftGlass: Averted once, when the president gets a shard of glass in his torso after an explosion, but played straight every time Cale jumps/crashes through a window (which happens multiple times throughout the film).

* YouCantThwartStageOne: Largely played straight, but Emily does manage to strike a blow against the villains by posting her video footage she managed to record inside, giving the US Military valuable intelligence alerting them that what they are dealing is not an attack by foreign terrorists, but an covert act of treason.

* {{Retirony}}: Much is made about how the Head of the Presidential Detail, Walker, is on his last week on the job, complete with a n ActionFilmQuietDramaScene sequence where he leaves his house the morning of the attack. [[spoiler:He does die, but that's because he's actually the bad guy. He also has an inoperable brain tumor which was killing him anyway.]]

* DividedWeFall: Almost every single villain has a different motive for the attack. Stenz wants [[RevengeBeforeReason revenge on the administration]] for allowing him to be captured and tortured, Killick wants to [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic take down a black President]], Tyler apparently wants [[GlorySeeker challenge and notariety of hacking NORAD]], Walker wants [[spoiler: to save America by nuking the Middle East, and Raphelson wants to be president.]] The rest of the mooks just want to [[MoneyDearBoy get paid.]] Naturally, these various motives often collide, causing conflict among the bad guys.

** Speaking of RPG-7s, for some reason the presidential limo is equipped with a ''chromed'' RPG-7 for whatever reason.

** Speaking of RPG-7s, for some reason the presidential limo is equipped with a *chromed* RPG-7 for whatever reason.

* InsistentTerminology: Emily insists that it's known as a "YouTube channel" and not a "video blog" or "blog". She lets it slide when Sawyer says "blog", though. Might have something to do with him being the President.