Movie Review: Skyscraper (2018)

Genre: Thriller  

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber  

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell  

Running Time: 102 minutes  

Synopsis: Formerly an FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader, security consultant Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) travels to Hong Kong with his wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) and their two children. His assignment is to assess security arrangements for a stunning new skyscraper financed by tycoon Zhao (Chin Han). A team of international mercenaries led by Botha (Roland Møller) want to pressure Zhao into surrendering a critical hard drive, and set the building ablaze with Sarah and the kids trapped inside. Will is framed for the destructive fire, but still has to find a way to recue his family from the inferno.

What Works Well: Big, bold, loud, and yes, dumb in a fun way, this mash-up of The Towering Inferno and Die Hard delivers exactly what it promises: a thrill a minute, over-the-top stunts, an overload of special effects, hissing villains, a save-your-family imperative, and an indestructible hero. The skyscraper itself is a gloriously imaginative marvel, and Dwayne Johnson has the sweaty presence to bulldoze his way to a rescue, his Will Sawyer refreshingly averse to gunplay.

What Does Not Work As Well: More of a video game than a movie, the death-and-gravity-defying obstacles eventually meld into each other and become successively less impressive. The bad guys suffer from poor definition and lack of charisma.

Key Quote:

Will Sawyer (muttering to himself): If you can't fix it with duct tape... you ain't using enough duct tape.

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