Disaster type films have been a common Hollywood staple for decades, but more prolific since "Airport" in 1969. Since the massive success of "Airport", the flood gates opened up with the like of "The Poseidon Adventure", "The Hindenburg", "Earthquake", "World Trade Center", and "2012", So now we are offered "Skyscraper".
FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) now assesses security for skyscrapers. On assignment in Hong Kong he finds the tallest, safest building in the world, owned by property tycoon Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han), suddenly ablaze, and subsequently becomes framed for it. A wanted man on the run, Will must find those responsible, clear his name and somehow rescue his family, wife Sarah (Neve Campbell), daughter Georgia (McKenna Roberts) and son Henry (Noah Cottrell), who are trapped inside the building...above the fire line. How can a securities expert expect to manage this and keep his mind, body and spirit where it needs to be?
Others to round out the cast are Pablo Schreiber as Ben, Noah Taylor as Mr. Pierce, Roland Moller as Kores Botha, Hannah Quinlivan as Xia, Byron Mann as Inspector Wu and Kevin Rankin as Ray.
This was directed with a nail-biting grit by Rawson Marshall Thurber ("Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" '04, "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" '08, "We're the Millers" '13, "Central Intelligence" '16) plus TV and shorts. Even though the brunt of this filmmaker's experience lies with the genre of comedy, Thurber is quite adept at directing an intense thriller. I'm sure working with Johnson helped him considering he worked with him on "Central Intelligence". The emotions were so raw that I was squirming in my seat biting my nails from scene to scene. It was also written by Thurber. He, like many other directors writes what he directs, which makes it the easiest of connections from the laptop to helming the chair. There were a few areas of choppiness and slowness, but all in all this storyline was executed in a very thrilling and captivating way. I can't help but think of the film, "Die Hard" '88 with Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman as I was viewing this. And I don't believe that Thurber took this film to adapt his as much as I thought this was an amazing homage to "Die Hard" i.e. both lead characters are cops, both owners are Asian, both films are about a burning skyscraper, and both families are trapped in the building. But hey, I loved "Die Hard" so this was a great send up of that film which enhanced my viewing. And what can I say about ILM (Industrial, Light & Magic), the predominant visual effects company? These visuals were absolutely seamless, especially when Johnson's character, Will was putting on his artificial leg--Johnson obviously not having an artificial leg in reality. I looked for errors and found none.
If you're a disaster flick, Johnson or "Die Hard" fan, you'll be on pins and needles watching this one. If you like the style of this artist, his "Red Notice" is in pre-production for a 2020 release. This is the quintessential popcorn flick which will allow anyone to escape into.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 102mins.
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