Skyscraper
Mini Non-Spoiler Review
[July 13th, 2018]
[PG-13, 1hr 42min, Action, the Rock, Thriller]
I've been accumulating a number of movies and shows actually since the last time I've been trying to actively review them and this was just one of them that past the premiere days but still is worth mentioning for. It's another year full of features for the virtually tireless and non-stop worker Dwayne 'the Rock' Johnson but is it a return to form or just another by-the-book outing for him?
Well, you are not wrong to say that this is a Die Hard vehicle for him but whether or not it matches its spiritual ancestor is another matter altogether. It basically has the same basic premise in the protagonist has to work his way going up a tall building to the bad guys before it turns for the worse, but with enough inventions and varieties of different variables to make it a fresh enough experience. I have to mention how far the Rock has gone as an actor since the Scorpion King if I had to mention one, being able to portray a believable struggling amputee with inviting emotions without feeling too on-the-nose or using that handicap angle without any substance to it. What they made him do throughout the film though jumped the shark a bit too much to be believable, so temper your expectation before you go in. And that carbon fiber leg are really handy, pardon the pun!
Speaking of which, him being amputated played into his backstory and his psyche at the start and we could see his emotional progression from being unsure to being braver to save his own family, which are casted well with Neve Campbell as his dependable wife.The rest of the cast played their roles adeptly as well. Their approach to create a new fictional skyscraper plays into the whole storytelling for better or for worse by putting it in China and having the whole storyline around it from the villains and the reasons it is being hijacked in the first place to the surrounding citizens and the police force at the ground floor. I can safely say at least it is being put into the film naturally compared to the pandering of the Transformers. The creation of the state of the art building comes with it a lot of high-tech inventions that they could play with in the action scenes, from the garden in the middle and the wind turbine to the Pearl itself. While some are used inventively and provide a number of cool visuals and action sequences, not many are implemented and executed as well as others.
You can't fault them from trying but just keep in mind that it is exactly what it says on the tin and nothing more!
Yeah, if you've read a lot of my reviews you should already know some of my signature lines already ...
P.S. I enjoyed his outing in Rampage as well and I particularly enjoy the monsters and how they came to be!
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