Skyscraper review (400TH POST!)

SKYSCRAPER:

THE ROCK’S UNINTENTIONAL REMAKE OF DIE HARD IS THRILLING AND WELL-CONSTRUCTED ENOUGH FOR DUMB POPCORN FUN, BUT NOT MUCH ELSE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson making a leap of fate in Skyscraper

            Action superstar, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson (Fast & Furious franchise, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Rampage) reunites with director, Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, We’re the Millers, Central Intelligence), who have previously worked together on the 2016 action comedy, Central Intelligence in the latest action film that follows in the footsteps of Die Hard and The Towering Inferno, Skyscraper. The Rock in a movie where he battles terrorists in a burning building, my only expectation was entertaining trash with over-the-top action sequences and Johnson doing his usual shtick.

            And that’s about what I got, a dumb popcorn flick with a basic plot, thrills, and The Rock being a badass with charm. How does it fare compared to Die Hard? Not even close, unless you just want to turn your brain off and enjoy The Rock kick some ass for a couple hours I’d suggest watching Die Hard again as the superior alternative.

            The film follows former FBI agent, Will Sawyer (Johnson) who after an incident involving a suicide bombing, is left using a prosthetic leg and now works assessing security for skyscrapers. He lives and works in the tallest and “safest” skyscraper in the world in Hong Kong with his family known as The Pearl.

            Suddenly terrorists attack the building and set it ablaze with Sawyer’s family trapped inside above the fire line, and somehow, he is framed for it. Will must find the terrorists, bring them to justice, clear his name, and save his family.

            The film also stars Neve Campbell (Party of Five, The Craft, Scream franchise) as Sarah Sawyer, Chin Han (Masters of the Sea, The Dark Knight, Last Resort) as Zhao Long Ji, Roland Møller (A Hijacking, Atomic Blonde, The Commuter) as Kores Botha, Pablo Schreiber (The Wire, Orange is the New Black, American Gods) as Ben, Noah Taylor (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Game of Thrones, Edge of Tomorrow) as Mr. Pierce, Hannah Quinlivan (S.M.A.R.T. Chase) as Xia, Byron Mann (Street Fighter, Arrow, The Big Short) as Inspector Wu, Kevin Rankin (Dallas Buyers Club, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Hell or High Water) as Ray, Adrian Holmes (Stargate: SG-1, Arrow, Elysium) as Ajani Okeke, and Tzi Ma (Dante’s Peak, 24, Arrival) as Fire Chief Sheng.

            Overall, Skyscraper is mindless summer blockbuster fun that’s worth watching if you’re looking for cheap thrills and over-the-top action. I can’t say that it’s a “Good” movie but for what I saw it was entertaining and usually I’m down for anything with The Rock, unless it’s Baywatch but I digress.

            The Rock doesn’t do much different compared to his other films outside of his character using a prosthetic leg, he remains the tough badass with a heart of gold and a charming smile. Basically, he’s like a less aggressive and non-vulgar version of Bruce Willis’ John McClane character from Die Hard.

            For the most part the action is exciting despite an overreliance on CGI, I don’t know if it’s just me but I’m never fully convinced watching people in peril or trying to fight in an action sequence when the fire and destruction aren’t really there on-camera, also I see no point in seeing this movie in 3D outside of a few shots of the skyscraper, they don’t really exploit the gimmick or do anything creative with it.

            There are plenty of things to nitpick of poke fun at in this movie, such as the unoriginal plot that’s trying to be a PG-13 remake of Die Hard (Though an actual PG-13 Die Hard movie was ironically better than this) which thankfully The Rock’s performance and the action sequences make up for it, the side characters are pretty forgettable or in the kids’ case annoying and awkwardly portrayed especially the daughter, she sounds disinterested in what’s happening and she never sounds convincing. Let’s not forget the action movie tropes, implausibility, script clichés, and the destruction of a helicopter that belongs in a Michael Bay production, some of it is enjoyable and other times it can be lazy.

            Skyscraper delivered exactly what I was expecting and I’m glad I saw it, is it a perfect, groundbreaking action movie? No, does it have a lot of dumb moments? You bet your ass, but I had fun with it. There are far better action movies as well as movies starring The Rock but if you’re looking for a dumb popcorn night of action and fun, Skyscraper is definitely worth a stay.