Skyscraper

I was hoping 'Skyscraper' would be in the vein of 'Die Hard', a bad-ass, original and epic action movie where anything felt on the cards as a possibility. Instead it was pretty much the opposite of all of those things. 'The Rock' was given almost no opportunity to show off his undeniable charm. The script just hampered him in every way and left him as nothing more than a muscly guy who could do impressive stunts. But trust me, 'The Rock' is the least of the problems this film has.

The biggest gripe I have is just how dull it is. The film actually starts off with a pretty menacing villain and some violent and brutal killings. At this stage I had hope for the film, but all of that ended pretty abruptly and from that point onwards every bad guy in the film was unbelievably incompetent. The whole story arc plays out in about as cliche of a fashion as you could ever imagine. It's all very underwhelming and disappointing.

As for positives they are hard to come by. Some of the visuals are impressive and 'The Rock' does his best to keep things watchable despite being given absolutely no help. Otherwise though I would say this is a complete misfire and not worth anyone's time or money.

Since no human adversary is any match for The Rock, as he has shown us in past movies, he must now take on non-human adversaries. This time, he's taking on a building. But not just any building. He's taking on a skyscraper-the most formidable and the most phallic of all buildings.

If it sounds ridiculous, that's because it is. The story is largely ridiculous, and although The Rock never actually fights the building (because it's a building), the danger that the building poses is a much greater threat than any posed by the actual villains of this film.

The villains are lame, cardboard cutout characters. They're evil because they're evil-no explanation given, no effort. So, I consider the skyscraper the main adversary in this film since its sheer height and the raging fire it contains threatens The Rock's family. I won't mention The Rock's character's name because I never once thought of him as anyone other than The Rock. The only thing here distinguishing him from the characters he plays in other movies, is his love for duct tape. This is a very pro-duct tape movie.

In this movie, The Rock is awesome because The Rock is always awesome. Speaking of awesome, I have to give it up for Neve Campbell. I should have known from the many times I watched the 'Scream' movies, but Neve Campbell is one tough cookie. She takes down her share of bad guys along the way, fearlessly and intelligently defending her kids. Well done.

Rooting for The Rock (and any of his friends or family) is one of my favorite things to do at the movies. It's amazing that The Rock has been so built up in the minds of viewers as an indestructible force that writers now have to manufacture weaknesses for him in movies, such as an artificial leg. It's as if the audience would believe all the challenges of this movie would be too easy for him if he had both his natural legs.

While there are a million and one plot holes, that's definitely not something you're supposed to look for in this movie. Certain movies are not meant to be dissected, and one involving a man jumping from one tall structure across the sky into a much taller structure that's on fire, is certainly one of them.

In addition to the film's inherent silliness, it also attempted several awkward jokes within the first few minutes, all of which whiffed. Characters followed up with "I'm kidding." That's usually a reliable indicator that the joke bombed terribly.

Despite all the flaws, I still had a good time watching this. The Rock is charismatic enough to carry any action movie to a reasonable level of watchability. Thanks to him, this one is reasonably watchable.

Well, I was not expecting a Cannes Film Festival breakout, or Academy Award contender. To all those reviews that say the movie is cliched, predictable, just another Die Hard knock off... WTF were you expecting!? This movie delivered on the action, and the skyscraper was very, very cool! Yes the acting was not deep, but it was not bad either...The Rock looks great whatever he does, I mean come on people, Arnold and Stallone were not Shakespearean actors either!! I have seen literally hundreds of " Mediocre" action flicks, and this one ranks a point or two higher IMO. If you want to kick back and watch a mostly mindless, ridiculous, silly, and fun action movie, then you will enjoy this one.

It's not actually awful or even bad per se, but it's worse.. yes it's mediocrity defined! It's predictable, rather boring and all the best parts have been shown in the trailers. Dwayne Johnson is good, but can't save this. Sorry!

"Skyscraper" Or: "The Rock does Die Hard" Genre: Action/Heist

Like it or not, Dwayne Johnson is the biggest action star (and I'm not just talking about is 275lb frame) out there right now. When you go to watch one of his movies, you can expect over the top action and not a whole lot of feelings. I'm still kind of surprised that in "San Andreas" he didn't just close the fault back up with his biceps or stop the earthquake with his pecs. This being the era of The Rock, we see Johnson in at least 2 or 3 movies a year...Skyscraper being the 3rd I've seen in 2018. While I wait with teeth grinding anticipation for the "Big Trouble in Little China" reboot, let's get the Lowedown on Skyscraper with an aspect breakdown.

Cast=7 Dwayne Johnson is worth three points for his biceps alone...I know I went to the theater just cause I knew he's in it. Neve Campbell returns to the silver screen as the wife and earns two points...then Chin Han and Byron Mann earn one point each. This was enough to earn seven points out of the gate. Acting=7 The acting was actually pretty good across the board...I would probably award five points if Neve Campbell wasn't in this movie. Campbell still has the chops and really stole the show from an acting standpoint. I will have to add a couple points just for her...so that would make seven points here too. Plot=8 A security expert must infiltrate a burning skyscraper, 225 stories above ground, when his family are trapped inside by criminals. Ok...it's really "Die Hard" only with a bigger building and a bigger hero. Did that make it better? Not by a long shot...but it was a simple concept that allows for little need for character development. Eight points for plot...yay! Ending=8 The biggest thing I want in an ending is closure. But from an action movie, I want the most epic action at the end than the rest of the film. I definitely got the action and the closure...the foreshadowing made the ending predictable, so I can't give full points. Let's say eight points for the ending... Story=5 I was not a fan of the story...they left a lot of hole just to try to explain what Johnson did and why the bad guys were in the building. There was a bit too much character development for Johnson, but not enough for Campbell and her role was just as important. Throwing a five at the building for the story. Favorite Quote: "If you can't fix it with duct tape... you ain't using enough duct tape."

Genre: Action Violent=9 It's an action movie and that means I WANT VIOLENCE!!! I can't award full points for this, as it's PG-13. It's like putting a noise suppressor on a Harley...it kind of defeats the purpose. But I guess the purpose was to make as much money as possible in the Theater. As such, nine points will go to this movie for the epic sky crane jump. Pace=7 An Action movie, unlike Drama, needs to have a great pace. The acting and the story can't keep you, so it has to be the explosions and car chases. The pace was good...a little lag in the beginning with the character development, but once the fit hits the shan (see how I switched that?) the pace is really good. Seven points for Slitherin. F/X=10 For an Action movie...I want great CGI sure, but I want some real stunt work. I realize you have to do some things with a computer and a green screen...I also want some work with a stunt crew and the actors doing some of their own stuff. This was the one great thing about the film! The fire F/X was great and the stunts in and out of the building were nice. Ten points will be added to the score...

Sub-Genre: Heist Heist=5 Sorry if this is a spoiler, but of course you have to know the bad guys are after something right? If they are trying to take something as the main plot, then this is a heist movie. I just wasn't feeling what they were trying to do. I can't say it was good or bad, so I'll go with meh here...Five points. Chemistry=6 In a heist movie, I want chemistry with the robbers. A definite leader and a team of specialists to perform a certain task is what I want to see. While there is a leader, the rest of the team is not fully realized. Despite them being armed. At no point did I feel like they could beat The Rock...six points. My Score: 7.2 "Skyscraper" does not hold it's weight as a heist movie, but it's pretty solid as a straight up action flick. It manages to one-up Die Hard in height alone...it's taller but it will never be bigger. It's the same thing I told my kids when they became taller than me in junior high school. If you didn't get to see this in the theater...just hang in there for the video release.