Dwayne Johnson as Will Sawyer, yet again, performs a character of a similar template in a different manner.
Skyscraper Movie Review Rating: 3.5/5 Stars (Three and a half stars)
Star Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, McKenna Roberts, Noah Cottrell, Roland Moller, Noah Taylor, Chin Han, Byron Mann, Hannah Quinlivan.
Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
What’s Good: Plenty heart-in-your-mouth moments, unfolding of the story once the buildup is set, Dwayne Johnson’s beastly performance.
What’s Bad: Unconvincing twists & turns, defying the laws of science & physics – that’s not particularly bad if you’re someone who likes to grab a popcorn and not mind what’s happening how.
Loo Break: No! The movie is intriguing enough to hold you back on your seats.
Watch or Not?: For some guilty pleasure action sequences, mindless yet entertaining moments & the beast known as Dwayne Johnson.
We saw Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) with his FBI Rescue Hostage Team rescuing a family hostage to a man in Minnesota. Cutting the flashback scene from 10 years ago we see how Will is no more with FBI and has his leg amputated. Will is in Hong Kong with his family where he has to attend a meeting with Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han). Zhao is an Asian financier who has built The Pearl – a skyscraper 500 feet (1,100 m) and 225 stories tall.
Swayer is in charge of the security system at The Pearl for which he has to finish one final system check before Zhao could open The Pearl for residential occupants. Enters the men of Kores Botha, an international terrorist kingpin, who uses his control over the construction crew and try to manipulate Zhao to extort a huge chunk of money. In this process, the 96th floor of the skyscraper gets exposed to the flames causing fire on the whole level. Swayer’s family gets stuck above the 96th floor; it becomes impossible for them to get out until THE ROCK arrives in style.
Skyscraper Movie Review: Script Analysis
Rawson Marshall Thurber has written a script keeping in Dwayne Johnson in mind. The kind of hyperbolic action in the film could only suit Dwayne. Rawson starts the movie creating tension & tries to maintain it throughout. He has shown some mind-blowing architectural wonders in the film. Be it fast lifts going in between the swirling turbines or a room full of reflective displays which turns transparent on a click – there are some WOW artifacts show in the film.
Yes, the action is logic defying, there are loopholes in the screenplay, flaws in the script but it is entertaining. Before fanatics comment by judging me on the previous line, let me be clear – I also enjoy a Salman Khan or a Rajinikanth film if they are at the least ‘entertaining’. There are enough moments to keep you glued throughout the movie. I saw people shaking on their seats while watching.
Skyscraper Movie Review: Star Performance
Dwayne Johnson as Will Sawyer, yet again, performs a character of a similar template in a different manner. There a certain thing about him that makes him bearable even though he doesn’t experiment much with his roles. Neve Campbell plays the role of Dwayne’s wife Sarah Sawyer in the film. She is beautiful, fierce and underused. We have seen what she can do in House Of Cards but here she gets overshadowed by the gigantic Johnson.
Roland Møller as Kores Botha is not the villain I expected for a movie like this. He looked bad-ass but his character was poorly sketched. To fight Johnson you need someone like Vin Diesel at the least. Chin Han as Zhao Long Ji is just to fill in the Asian requirement in the film. So are Byron Mann as Inspector Wu and Hannah Quinlivan as Xia. Rampage did extremely well in China, so one has to ask, is the Hong Kong involvement to attract more footfalls?
Skyscraper Movie Review: Direction, Music
Rawson Marshall Thurber achieves one thing with perfection is creating tension between the scenes. Let it be rock climbing a tower equivalent to 96 floors or the infamous jump, there are many sequences that keep your interest intact in the movie. This is where the movie wins big time. Full marks to Dwayne for carrying forward Thurber’s metaphoric vision. Weaving in family emotions in the midst of some aggressive action, works at places and misses at some.
Michael Bay’s favourite Steve Jablonsky has grasped the essence of the film quite well and scored the music according to it. Music plays a major role in a movie such as this and Steve does not disappoint at all. The music helps in elevating the thrill of some scenes which sums up the satisfying experience.
Skyscraper Movie Review: The Last Word
All said and done, Skyscraper is yet another entertaining offering from Dwayne Johnson. He climbs up the tower of my expectations & entertains throughout the film. It’s always good to get such enjoyable stuff from Hollywood in times when everyone wants to be a superhero.
Three and a half stars!
Skyscraper Movie Trailer