Skyscraper

Skyscraper

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Moller

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber

The Story:
Ten years after a hostage negotiation goes horribly wrong and leads to his leg getting amputated, former FBI leader Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) now assesses security for skyscrapers, and his latest job lands him at The Pearl in Hong Kong - the world's largest self-sustaining skyscraper designed by billionaire Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han).

Will's wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) and twin children are able to stay at the Pearl during Will's assessment, before they open it up to the general public.  However, terrorist kingpin Kores Botha (Roland Moller) has different plans, and sets fire to one floor of the complex in order to trap Ji and an item that Botha desperately needs.  Unfortunately for him, he also trapped Sarah and her children, leading Will on a wild adventure to save them.

The Synopsis:
At the opening party of a colossal, but poorly constructed, office building, a massive fire breaks out that threatens to destroy the tower and everyone in it, meanwhile a cop tries to save his wife from a terrorist.

While that pretty much describes "Skyscraper," it's actually a mesh of plotlines from "The Towering Inferno" and "Die Hard."  Mix a little bit of what The Rock is cooking, and you've got "Skyscraper," the only major release in July that's "wholly original" - I couldn't say that with a straight face.

Dwayne Johnson is America's new Golden Boy, a man who can do no wrong, due to his insanely personable nature and oddball charm.  We'd watch him row a boat across the ocean if we could, and that's what makes "Skyscraper" work in any capacity - because the story itself is so utterly ridiculous and reminiscent of 80s action flicks that it doesn't really offer much else.

For this film, Dwayne Johnson does Dwayne Johnson stuff in an utterly Dwayne Johnson movie - again - as he unleashes all his physical prowess and defies the laws of gravity to save his family from a terrorist who's taken them hostage because of a small thumbdrive that could threaten his whole existence, or something.  This is totally fine, because we knew what we were going into when we bought our ticket - a fun, adventurous summer popcorn movie where we can turn off our brains to the vigorous rigors of reality and settle in for an insane death-defying ride.

Johnson again teams up with director Rawson Marshall Thurber (who worked with him in another utterly Dwayne Johnson movie "Central Intelligence") to tell this story of a father with nothing to lose, with muscles bulging out of every orifice of his body, as he breaks into a high class, high security skyscraper to save his family.  To accomplish this, he can't just use the front door...that would make sense, but would also make for a terribly dull movie.  Instead, we're treated some vertigo-style heights (for someone who's scared to death of heights, even though I knew it was all green-screen, I was still nervous through most of it) as Johnson leaps from a crane to land perfectly (well, almost) in the building...going against all laws of physics and gravity.  Kids, don't try this at home - or do, it'll be humorous.

Relying on action over substance (we get into it almost right away, after some boring expository speaking of events and items that will obviously come into play later), Thurber treats the fans to a death-defying spectacle the likes of which they've never seen - as long as they've never seen "The Towering Inferno" or "Die Hard."  Seeing Dwayne Johnson risk his life is rather dull to be honest, because we all know he will never die and will always save the day while giving some light-hearted quip about one thing or another, so there's no real sense of danger here - just fun thrills.

Neve Campbell, fresh from her days as a modern-day "Scream" queen, actually tackles the role of Will's wife Sarah as someone different than your normal damsel in distress.  She's trained in combat, knows several languages, and is fearless in the presence of danger.  It would've been more fun seeing her try to save her children, but the few action moments she does get, she totally nails it.

Chin Han plays Zhao Long Ji, the founder of The Pearl, who's as stereotypical Asian as you can find.  He's not given a lot to work with, as he tries to hide the true motives for the terrorist's actions as poorly as a kid trying to hide a vase he broke by shoving it under a rug.  Equally, Roland Moller does his best wannabe Hans Gruber as the terrorist mastermind, but all his actions just made me think he was nothing more than a cut-rate Gruber.

The other bad guys in the film are incredibly generic and idiotic, who more or less just ask Johnson to please kill them.  I'm not sure if Thurber thought he could throw in a few curve balls by revealing certain bad guys, but if that was the case, he didn't do it very well.  Also with the story as a whole - it's very predictable and truly reminiscent of 80s action films, but in a way that's more modern and also more fun for the viewer - as long as they don't put any single solitary thought into it.

But again, this is Dwayne Johnson...playing in a Dwayne Johnson film...doing Dwayne Johnson things.  And that is just fine by us.

The Summary:
While obvious comparisons to other action films are easy to note, "Skyscraper" still has enough action and suspense to thrill audiences for a simple moment until the credits roll, and we wonder what it was we actually saw.

The Score: B