SKYSCRAPER (2018)

SKYSCRAPER (2018)

This was a movie where when I saw the preview, I was thinking “that’s an updated version of DIE HARD”. So I can’t remember if we skipped it because it didn’t feel like a blockbuster we needed to see on the big screen, or if we didn’t see it because we’d seen it before only Bruce Willis had hair? 

This one is about a former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran Will Sawyer (played by Dwayne Johnson) who now determines if security for high rise buildings sucks or not. This isn’t the first time we have seen Johnson in a script where his character has a ridiculously suspect credentials for the exact skillset needed. RAMPAGE and SAN ANDREAS are perfect examples. Anyway, Will, drags his family to freakin Hong Kong to check out the world’s tallest and newest building. Because of what he knows, Will and his family are inadvertently caught up in a terrorist situation where there is a lot more going on with this damn building and its owner than we are first told. Oh yeah, and almost this whole movie, this building is on fire…so there’s that. 

First off let me just say, I know that Neve Campbell didn’t drop off the face of the earth after the first 4 SCREAM movies, but it sure as heck seemed like it. Now she is back for this movie and is currently filming the next SCREAM flick. So hats off to Neve Campbell for not just falling into the abyss so many in Hollywood do. All of the acting in this movie is top notch. I mean – we can feel the tension and the fear and it’s really dynamic.

Cinematically this thing is really well shot and most of the movie is in the dark which kind of brings life to atmosphere the director is trying to create. This is the same director (Rawson Marshall Thurber) who did EASY A and DODGEBALL, so this isn’t your typical action giant here and he handles the material really well. 

Where the movie does have a few issues is in its originality which it tries to cover up with some really awesome mirroring tech on the top floor of this building, but even that kind of feels like a plot device in the final product. The plot is fine, but it takes a really really long time to make its point and deliver on any motives whatsoever as to why this extremely well trained group of terrorists is in this building, they set on fire themselves. Normally I would be fine with this, but I would have enjoyed the movie a lot more if I understood it a lot earlier. 

Even though duck-tape probably can solve anything, it couldn’t solve some of the missing elements in the dialog like maybe developing the villains and Neve’s character Sarah a lot more rather than taking a deeper dive in Will’s character that wasn't really needed. I also wonder if audiences are getting a little burned out on Dwayne Johnson at the moment. This isn't the only fairly recent movie of his in the $5.00 bin at Wal-Mart right now. 

I have to give this movie a solid 4 out of 7. It’s a good popcorn flick with enough emotion, but doesn’t live up to the DIE HARD legacy it seemed to be aiming for.

GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF LEGENDARY ENTERTAINMENT AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.  

Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless. Until next time.