Skyscraper (2018) Review

"This is stupid."

-Will Sawyer

Former FBI agent turned security consultant, Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) is hired to assess the security of "The Pearl", the tallest skyscraper in the world.  After delivering his results, the tablet that controls "The Pearl" is stolen and a group of armed men, led by Kores Botha (Roland Møller), seize control of the building and start it on fire to go after the owner of the building, Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han), who is at the very top.  Meanwhile, Will's family is trapped inside, while Will is stuck on the outside.  Will must find away to get in the building, while avoiding the police who believes he is working with Botha.  Even if he can get inside, can he save his family and stop Botha from getting what he's after?

What Works:

I love Dwayne Johnson.  That guy has more charisma is his pinky finger than I have in my whole body.  Every film he's in, no matter how bad, he delivers.  He's funny, likable, and someone you can root for and that holds true for Skyscraper.

Scream is my second favorite movie of all time, so I was thrilled to see Neve Campbell in Skyscraper as Will's wife, Sarah, and they have great chemistry.  I was nervous she was going to get captured early on and sit on the sidelines for the whole movie, but this wasn't the case at all.  Neve gets a couple of fight scenes and actually gets to be part of the action for a chunk of the movie.  I'm so happy she gets more to do than just be a damsel in distress.  Neve Campbell is too awesome and badass for that.

There are a couple of really solid sequences, most of which take place on the outside of the building.  These sequences are genuinely tense and thrilling.  I wouldn't say I'm afraid of heights, but you will never catch me on the outside of a building like that, thank you very much, so any sequence out there definitely made my blood pressure rise in a fun way.  The very first fight scene of the movie is also excellent and shows us that even a one-legged Dwayne Johnson should not be messed with.

Finally, the 3rd act fight sequence was actually very fun and creative.  When they showed us the main attraction of "The Pearl" early in the movie, I couldn't figure out what the point was, but I understood when we got to the 3rd act.  It was inventive, fun, and something different that I really enjoyed.

What Sucks:

The biggest complaint I hear about this movie is that it's basically Die Hard, but not as good.  That's essentially accurate.  It's a modernized version of Die Hard that's not as good, well-written, funny, or awesome.  This movie is not original by any means.  That doesn't necessarily make it a bad movie, but it is a fair knock against the film.

The villain is no Hans Gruber, I can tell you that much.  Botha doesn't have much in the way of personality.  He's just kind of a generic bad guy and not very interesting.  His henchmen aren't very interesting either.  In Die Hard, several of the henchmen were developed and almost all of them had something in the way of personality.  This is absolutely not the case here.

The film is also too short.  We don't get enough time to full explore the skyscraper.  The first chunk of the movie involves Will trying to get back inside the building, but we only have three sequences of Will getting through the building.  It ends prematurely and we easily could have added another action scene or two.

Verdict:

Skyscraper is a fun movie, but nothing special or anything we haven't seen before.  Dwayne Johnson and Neve Campbell are both solid and there are some cool sequences, but it's essentially a lesser version of Die Hard with less interesting characters, a lame villain, and a short run-time.  It's at least a better Die Hard movie than A Good Day to Die Hard, but it's a dumb, fun summer blockbuster that doesn't pretend to be anything else.

 6/10: Ok