A father goes to incredible lengths to save his family after
the tallest building in the world is sabotaged and set on fire. ACTION
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Skyscraper (2018)Written and Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Byron Mann, Noah Taylor, McKenna Roberts, Noah Cottrell, Pablo Schreiber |
Skyscraper is a very obvious melding of Die Hard and The Towering Inferno, but Dwayne Johnson's undeniable charisma makes that a moot point. He honestly saves the movie from itself, as there a great many holes. There's just something about the guy. He can hold up any weak movie and make it entertaining and fun. Skyscraper is no exception, and considering the weak supporting cast and unoriginal story, it's a wonder this movie ended up being so enjoyable.
Will Sawyer (Johnson) is an ex-soldier who now works as a security consultant for The Pearl, the newly built tallest building in the world that is hiding a dark secret that the Chinese mob is after. The mob hires a thug to burn the building down in order to smoke out The Pearl's creator Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han), who can give them what they want. Unfortunately, Will's family gets caught in the crossfire and he makes it his mission to save them. It's a formula that's been done to death, but The Rock keeps it from being boring or redundant. There are a number of crazy action sequences that are surprisingly tense, considering we all know he's going to make it. Skyscraper doesn't bring anything new to the table, but it does the best it can with what it does have. I believe Dwayne Johnson intended it to be an homage to 70's and 80's disaster action flicks like Die Hard, in which case it works phenomenally well. With this film, Johnson proves yet again what he's consistently shown with films like San Andreas, the Jumanji sequel, and the Fast & Furious franchise. He's the go-to guy for butts in seats, and one of Hollywood's most entertaining leading men. |