Review: Skyscraper

“A Die Hard style Rock movie. Could it become a classic of the action genre? No…”

For the first half of this movie, I was really enjoying it and was thinking to myself, wow, this is building (pun intended) to be a really strong action movie. But then, once the Rock got into the building, the film worked less and less and by the end, it had burnt itself out (oh, the puns are strong today!)

The movie opens with Will Sawyer (Johnson) as part of a hostage negotiation team that fails in their mission, and Will somehow literally survives a bomb going off in his face. For some reason, he is not disfigured at all in the face, but he loses half a leg and this allows for some future fun times with the Arnold Schwarzenegger of prosthetic legs.

Will is now transformed into a safety expert and he is hired by Zhao Long Ji, (Chin Han), who seems to have taken all the money he stole in The Dark Knight to build a 200+ story building, which has fantastic fire safety measures, since he’s not a fan of money and fire being closely linked since what actually happened in the Dark Night.

Naturally, when all hell breaks loose, and the terrorists of this movie, set fire to the building, trapping Will’s family above the 96th floor, Will has to be outside the building so he can get in, by climbing (and I do mean climbing) on the outside of a crane, all the way to the top, nearly 100 floors high. That’s some damn decent climbing right there. Not to mention, he does it in pretty quick time. It’s good to know that if Johnson doesn’t end up eventually playing Black Adam in the DCEU, he could move over to Marvel and become Spider-Man.

The villains of course are after a fancy thumb drive. They make a number of silly mistakes and Will manages to throw them off various ledges and complete a series of super human tasks that makes Bruce Willis’ elevator slip look like a walk in the part.

Let's not forget, this man has one leg...

Yep... that's what should have happened. Of course, it didn't...

And whilst it’s all in good fun, the ending doesn’t quite land on its feet as too many attempts to be technologically creative, results in a messy and confusing final scene that looks very like heavy CGI.

The cast:

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson works well in the film, as he has developed his acting to the point where these films feel almost a waste for him. He manages to hold together some of the scenes that could have felt cheesy and instead does allow the bond between him and his family to feel more realistic.

Nerve Campbell is tough in the role of a mother trying to save her children as the villains and the flames get more and more out of control. She also magically overcomes some pretty poor understandings of technology to play a key role in saving the day.

Byron Mann plays a cop investigating what is happening, along with Elfina Luk, neither of whom have much to do.

The villains are very forgettable, there is certainly no Alan Rickman amongst them. Noah Taylor certainly spent some time at the school over hammy villainy and Roland Moller tries to be menacing but struggles to convey any real sense of awe that the character needed.

Hannah Quinlivan is the best villain in the movie, and she disappears for long sections and never steps foot inside the building.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable weekend no brainer, not quite landing enough elements to make it reach the levels of a Die Hard, but certainly worth a look, especially for fans of the Rock or fans of the genre.

The five bearded questions:

1. Was it worth a cinema trip? Yes.

2. Would I See It Again at the Cinema? Only if someone really wanted to.

3. Would I buy it on Blu-ray: (only films I really love get bought these days) No. 4. Do I Recommend people see it? Action fans should enjoy it.

5. Any cheese/ Disney style bullshit?: (such as jokes wedged in at serious moments, because fun!). There was cheese, but the kind required for this type of dish.