‘Skyscraper’ Is A Gravity Defying Blast! (Movie Review)
Skyscraper, which we are gathered here to discuss today, is NOT the rousing Demi Lovato song. Instead, Skyscraper is the newest Dwayne Johnson action vehicle. I mean how much lull can we have theatrically speaking without a new Rock movie packing seats in the theaters? That was of course a very rhetorical question. The answer to that is simply not much at all. The Rock is back and this time he’s playing Die Hard in a very tall building occupied by terrorists with a slight “twist.” He has a twist off lower left leg! Now you can not say this is the same old kind of movie The Rock is always in or they didn’t give his character a flaw. If nothing else, Skyscraper is the film that puts The Rock at a slight physical disadvantage, but not too much where can’t make huge, gaping horizontal/vertical leaps or use his artificial stump as an effective prop. There are limits, people.
Skyscraper was both written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, We’re The Millers, Central Intelligence). So if you’re keeping score, this is his second team-up with Dwayne Johnson. He’s also re-teaming with him again for another picture coming soon (part of the effort to keep a Dwayne Johnson movie in the theater all year round). In addition to The Rock Skyscraper stars Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Noah Taylor, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber and Hannah Quinlivan. The story follows The Rock’s character (duh!), a former FBI agent, who apparently is having a very bad day. He must not only rescue his family from the tallest skyscraper in the world after it is taken over by terrorists, but oh yeah the building is on fire too.
So here’s what all goes down. Will Sawyer (Johnson) is both a former FBI Hostage Rescue Taker and a U.S. veteran. As I already established he’s also an amputee missing the lower half of his left leg. In present day he assesses security for you guessed it skyscrapers. His newest job assignment brings him overseas internationally where he finds himself presented with the world’s supposedly safest and tallest building (tallest building being synonymous with the term skyscraper). But wait! The building is on fire. What’s worse is he’s been framed for it all. He’s now a fugitive on the run that must clear his name. But wait again! There’s more! What’s even worse than that is the fact that his family is being held hostage by terrorists in said building, which again in case you forgot just so happens to be on fire. His family is being held above the fire line, which started on the 96th floor. The really crappy part though is our hero is not even in said building yet, but he needs to be…enter the crane scene you’ve all seen in the trailers.
Sounds crazy, huh? It is! And so I was gravely mistaken about what I said up above. This is nothing like Die Hard. It’s Die Hard dialed to ten or Die Hard meets Crank. You decide. It’s absolute lunacy, exhilarating and heart pounding all in the same breath. I hate heights very much in real life, and rightfully so this movie made me twitch in writhing agony in my theater seat. Normally agony is a bad thing for anybody, but in this review it’s a good thing for me. I got vertigo just watching this (can’t even think how heart pounding this must be on a huge IMAX screen) and every slip, fall and miss grab made me wince that much more. That hardly ever happens to me so I can’t tell you how much I love feeling like I’m part of a action movie like this. I know it sounds super cheesy, but Skyscraper, shoddy screenplay and all, made me feel like I was front and center within this high rise thrill ride. What an absolute blast!
I guess what it all boils down to is Skyscraper is pure, scrappy fun. It never takes itself too seriously and it never declares I am a contender on a Die Hard level because it’s not. It’s pure cheese and lives up to its spectacular stunts as originally shown in the trailers. Basically, it delivers and you get what you paid for here. How can you possibly argue anything wrong with that? It doesn’t have to be brilliant, it just has to be fun, rousing and engaging. Skyscraper is thankfully all those. It was great to see Neve Campbell not only back on the big screen, but also getting in on the action. Newcomer Hannah Quinlivan also made things super fun in a Ruby Rose kind of way. As usual though Johnson is a big, raging bull full of wild charisma and there’s no way not to like him here. You initially feel bad for him with his limp, but I’m happy to see a scrappy, flawed Rock any day who doesn’t always prevail in every skirmish. He gets his butt handed to him multiple times here, but it’s the zany ways in which he prevails out of certain scenarios that will keep you guessing throughout your first viewing. And because I don’t want to spoil the fun for you all here that’s all I’ll say. Check your brain at the door, let loose and have fun. You did it for San Andreas so do it again here with Skyscraper!
Brian White
Owner/Writer/Reviewer/Editor, Dreamer, Producer, Agent of Love, Film Lover, Writer of Screenplays and a Devoted Apostle to all things Ford Mustangs (the real ones with V8's!). Some of my favorite films include FIGHT CLUB, MOULIN ROUGE, THE DARK KNIGHT, STAR WARS alongside television shows such as SEINFELD, 24, SANFORD & SON and even the often loathed in the geek community BIG BANG THEORY. Outside of my three lives I live I also enjoy spending time with my girlfriend and our three girls (of the furry kind).
