Film Review: Skyscraper

It was kind of weird seeing Skyscraper being memed and joked about online when the marketing suddenly kicked into gear back in February with the release of the poster. There was a time in 90s action cinema, post-Die Hard, when every other movie tried to capture everything that made the Bruce Willis classic so successful. Some were certainly better than others, and none got even close to reaching Die Hard’s greatness. But it still resulted in some fun experimentation, and those continue to this day with films like Olympus Has Fallen and now Skyscraper (not to be confused with the other Die Hard knockoff, the 1996 direct-to-video Anna Nicole Smith vehicle, Skyscraper).

The film is about Will (Dwayne Johnson) a former marine and FBI agent who now runs a small security analyst firm that is hired to make sure that the tallest building in the world is ready to open up the residential area. However, things quickly take a turn when the building is under attack, later setting a good chunk of the building ablaze, and he is forced to get inside to save his family from the terrorists.

It really is as straightforward as it gets, and if you expect this to be some kind of over-the-top comedy (which a lot of people seem to want from seemingly dopey genre movies these days), then you’ll be disappointed. It really feels like “another one of these” movies. There certainly are moments of humor, which seems to be a given since it’s written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, who helmed Dodgeball, We’re the Millers, and Central Intelligence, but those moments are small, and feel natural to the characters.

However, there is a strange push-and-pull happening with the film. On paper, Thurber seems to have taken all the right lessons from Die Hard. Will is a likeable character who isn’t some kind of killing machine. He comes across as a guy who is capable, but imperfect, and he simply just wound up in the middle of a really terrible situation. There’s lots of good set-ups and pay-offs. The stakes are raised in smart ways, and they’re paced well. The hero is in constant danger, and nothing he ever does feels like it was done effortlessly. It also keeps the action mostly contained, and the turns, as predictable as they might be, are still functional and work to keep the story engaging.

But then you look at the film, and that’s when the push-and-pull that I mentioned earlier becomes clear. It wants to desperately to be a throwback to those kind of grungy, small scale, blue collar action flicks, but it’s constantly having to compromise for the needs of being a PG-13 spectacle. No Die Hard knockoff should cost over $100 million. It’s also a film that feels desperate to be rated R, though it thankfully doesn’t come across as chopped up. It’s also one of those movies that are trying really hard to appeal to that overseas crowd, like with this one really cool character who works for the bad guys, played by Hannah Quinlivan. However, her action is so far removed from everything going on in the building, and it mostly comes across as an afterthought.

You’d think Dwayne Johnson would the wrong choice for an everyman type, but the thing about Johnson is that he’s actually really good at playing vulnerable, even if his physicality sometimes gets in the way. Despite that, he really does sell the moments where he gets his ass handed to him, and struggles to do tasks that his Fast and Furious counterpart would’ve been able to do with one hand tied behind his back, and come out completely unscathed. Hell, just a few months ago, his character in Rampage took a bullet and practically brushed it off minutes later. That is nowhere near the kind of character he plays here, and the movie is all the better for it. Plus, it helps that Thurber does solid work with the action here, my favorite being an early brawl that Will has with his old friend, Ben (Pablo Schreiber).

It’s nice to see Neve Campbell in a movie again, and I like that she gets to be involved more than “the wife” character tends to be in most action movies. The rest of the cast doesn’t get to shine as much, but with reliable character actors such as Chin Han, Roland Møller, and Noah Taylor, they at least get to make the most with the limited material they’re dealt with.

A fun fact about this movie that I couldn’t find any other spot in this review to throw in – it’s shot by Robert Elswit, the guy who shot most of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films. How weird is that? Well, it actually makes the film look significantly better than most of these. It’s a hell of a lot more better looking than Rampage, that’s for sure.

Skyscraper, despite its rather bold and extravagant presentation, is really simple and functional. That’s really the keyword here. There’s nothing superlative about it, but it works in all the things that it tries to do, if through the sheer force of will that is Dwayne Johnson’s charisma. Sure, some of the plot beats are ludicrous and occasionally convoluted, but it’s not much more than most blockbusters that come out. It’s a totally serviceable thrill ride that is elevated by a breathless pace and a great lead. Sometimes the simple pleasures of a movie like this is exactly what I want, and for now, it gave me what I wanted.