'Oh So Seen-It All-Before Actioner, Which Will Be Forgotten About'
Skyscraper was developed in China in 2016 when Legendary Entertainment won a bidding war for an action-adventure flick, set in Hong Kong and China. It under-performed, grossing over $300 million on a $125 million on the production.
Will Sawyer is a former FBI hostage Rescue Team Leader and U.S war veteran who currently analyses security for skyscrapers. Whilst on assignment in Hong Kong, Will finds out he is being framed for an arson that took place at the tallest and safest building in the world, and thus, has to find those responsible, to clear his name AND to rescue his family who are trapped.
Johnson was all right, but his charms were nowhere to be seen, the villain was forgettable and nothing worth shouting about; plus, despite the production, it had the feel of an action B-movie deemed for Netflix status, as opposed to the big screen, despite the millions spent on the special FX. Neve Campbell's character, whilst she had her moments, I feel like she was more on the sidelines and Campbell wasn't given much to do.
Nowhere as good as Die Hard, slightly better than Rampage, but that isn't saying much. If you take away Dwayne Johnson, I wouldn't have shown much interest that this would be a film you can easily pass up. It averages between mediocre and meh I couldn't choose between the two; not completely unwatchable -, rather the premise worked so much better in the late 1980s, early to mid-1990s when these types of plots in action films had a bit more substance and charm going for them.
Skyscraper tries, but, as with so many traditional Hollywood action films of the non-Marvel & DCU franchises, released in the post-1990s, it is relatively tame and clunky; no big surprises or twists and it takes a long time for the film to get going.
It's heavy on emotional drama and is not creative or inventive enough when it comes to ideas. There is nothing new and the fights weren't meaty enough. Seems like this was made to cater towards the Chinese market and less so to Western audiences, and seeing the production values it shows.
It never tries to step out of the shadows of other action flicks that have the same formula, although one thing it does do is the script allows Dwayne Johnson to act a little more. Sandwiched in between a disaster movie and an all-around actioner, 2018's Skyscraper is too cliched and predictable, but this would have been offset had the story had plenty of weight.
Final Verdict:
It's one of those efforts that had the potential to emerge as one of the best and most entertaining action films of the 21st century, but only when it is executed flawlessly. When the director's previous credits include comedies such as Johnson's Central Intelligence, We're the Millers and Dodgeball, sadly, Thurber's efforts do not go far enough.
It delivers as a cheap rental or something you'd watch on TV, possibly once.
After seeing this on Channel 4 for the first time, I will probably skip this one.
Overall:
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