Film Review: “Skyscraper” aims high but falls short
"Skyscraper" will have you on the edge of wishing for the return of John McClane
The action extravaganza Skyscraper (
) burns through a mountain of other franchises’ best bits and pieces to deliver Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson playing American Ninja Warrior inside a Towering Inferno. The plot and characters are as bland and focus-grouped as the title sounds, and the bad guys all are identifiable on sight, so let’s get to The Rock rolling around the burning building, shall we? Alas, that would be too easy for writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Central Intelligence), who first must fill in the blanks with the movie’s opening videogame-style setup.
Johnson plays Will Sawyer, a decorated Marine vet and ex-FBI op who lost half a leg trying to save a family during an ill-fated hostage situation. Ten years after that raid gone wrong, he’s married to another heroic vet, Sarah (Neve Campbell), with adorable twin tweens Georgia and Henry (McKenna Roberts and Noah Cottrell). Will has brought the family with him to Hong Kong for his interview as the safety and security analyst of a wondrous, just-completed super-tower known as the Pearl. Thurber whizzes us through the Pearl’s corporate promo video, which describes the state-of-the-art “city in the sky” as being three times the height of the Empire State Building.
For all its bells and whistles, however, the Pearl’s insurance company has yet to sign off on allowing residents to occupy the upper floors until the billionaire owner Zhao (Chin Han) can assure that all safety systems pass muster. It’s for that purpose that Will has been recruited, or lured, into the gig.
Maybe Will’s first order of business as safety analyst at this untested 220-floor deathtrap should have been to book his family a room at a nearby Holiday Inn, instead of on the 96th floor. But without his own family to save, he’d have little reason to battle his way back inside after a gang of thickly-accented, gun-toting thugs set fire to the Pearl, and corner Sarah and the kids.
Cue The Rock climbing a crane half a mile up in the sky, rappelling across glass and steel, and practically leaping over tall buildings in a single bound. Johnson’s brawny determination constitutes the movie’s most effective visual effect. Thurber and Oscar-winning cinematographer Robert Elswit (There Will Be Blood) also make smart use of any sensible human’s natural awe and/or fear of looking down from such tremendous heights.
Still, many of the shots are too dark and cramped to clearly convey the massive fiery tumult inside the building, and frequently in the tighter spaces, as well. A finale, partly set in a chamber of reflective HD panels, à la The Lady from Shanghai, bears none of the tension or snap of that Orson Welles classic. And, a supposedly bruising kick-fight in a car between Sarah and the film’s femme fatale, Xia (Hannah Quinlivan), amounts to several quick cuts of close-ups that don’t look like much.
At least Campbell, who took a brief hiatus from the big-screen, appears on her game. Called upon to deliver more than a movie’s worth of “you can do it” pep talks, she does so with conviction. And the former ballerina throws herself into the role with a physical gusto that matches her screen husband’s.
Will and Sarah are like the Incredibles come to life, but without the wit or nuance. And, while Johnson transmits an earnest love for his family that somewhat grounds the outlandish action, he’s not the quip-meister this Die Hard clone could really use. Not that anyone’s clamoring for the return of tired John McClane, but more comedy might help here, in lieu of suspense or an adversary who’s even one scintilla as compelling as Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber.
But this movie’s coveralls-clad villain, Kores Botha (Rolland Møller), is a dud. And, although arsenals of weapons are waved in the Sawyers’ face, what little suspense there is relates mostly to Will hanging off of things by his apparently iron hands, or his prosthetic leg. Skyscraper doesn’t so much register the thrill of dangling along with him and with Sarah, as they survive scrape after scrape with death, but rather the meager anticipation of seeing how they’ll conquer their next crossfit obstacle.
Skyscraper is rated PG-13, and opens in theaters everywhere July 13. Visit fandango.com.
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