Skyscraper Review - Duct Taping The Plot Holes

I have a confession. Dwayne Johnson rippling his abs and kicking ass is a guilty pleasure of mine. In Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle, he played his character almost as a parody of the persona he’s created for himself, almost indicating that the gargantuan star (both in terms of fame and in terms of stature) had shed this massy persona. Well, if the films he’s done in 2018 - Rampage and now, Skyscraper - are any indication, that persona is here to stay and if anything, Johnson’s just started to embrace it.

Because Skyscraper, except for a few high-tech gadgets, is a poor man’s Die Hard mixed with the The Towering Inferno. There is nothing more to it than this plastic premise - one we’ve seen many times. The script, written by director Rawson Marshall Thurber, is wholly awful - constructing its ideas mainly around the gorgeous sets that its characters are unfortunately subjected to and not around a basic coherent narrative. If anything really, the only basic outline of the film highlights the word monotony and repetitiveness.

The story, clearly derived entirely from its inspirations, revolves around Will Sawyer (Johnson), a former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader, who lost his leg on a mission. He now assesses the security levels of skyscrapers - leading him to the creator of the fictitious ‘Pearl’, a building towering at over 3500 feet high. The circumstances that befall him and his family (who are trapped in the Pearl), form the meat of the entire film.

So, really, to understand why Skyscraper isn’t even half as good as the cult films it so clearly rips off (homage is an understatement), you really have to dig deep into the fabric of what makes these massy action films cult classics. Firstly, you need some good-looking men and women, dressed either in black or in ripped shirts, carrying less than a firearm - however, completely disarming the posse of bad guys about to come his/her way. This film delivers on that promise. Johnson is here, weaving the exact same tale he has so many times, wearing the same costume (except, here he has charcoal and rubber smeared on his face to indicate he was in a fire.)

Secondly, you need some killer dialogues and some gorgeously shot action sequences. Other than a few exceptions, both the dialogues and action sequences in the film are largely imitative of other hits of the genre. The poster action sequence involves Johnson dangled 3500 feet in the air - something that Tom Cruise did better, classier and with more panache in Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol. All of the stunts are harebrained and incite no inventiveness - but only more imitation and derivation.

Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, you need a killer villain - something that this film hugely falters on. There are two major villains - a woman who struts around in high heels, serving literally as much purpose to the script as the ash that settles on the building played by Hannah Quinlivan. Then there is a second villain, Kores Botham a terrorist kingpin (played by Rollan Møller). Both are underwhelming and serve no purpose to the story except contriving it even further - almost to the point of complete confusion.

But the moral of this story is also the saving grace of it - Dwayne saves the day. Aided by Neve Campbell, playing Will’s independent headstrong wife, Sarah - he plunges through the plot holes, doing it ever so convincingly without breaking a sweat that instead of exasperating you, he exhilarates you. Falling of the Pearl all of 6 times and getting stabbed 3 times throughout the film’s 1 hour 48 minute runtime could have turned dry in no time, but a seasoned and crowd-pleasing actor such as Dwayne does it with ease.

Throughout the film, there is a set of Hong Kong natives who are watching live news as this odd man jumps from one part of the building to the other with a large amount of confidence. They cheer and scream in excitement, taking photos of this marvellous man, not really knowing what the hell is going on. My sentiments exactly - I’m going with 2 stars for Skyscraper.