Review: Skyscraper

"Welcome to heaven," Dwayne Johnson's former FBI agent turned security specialist Will Sawyer is told in Skyscraper, which aims to be The Towering Inferno or Die Hard for a new generation. Naturally, this particular heaven, heralded as the tallest and safest skyscraper in the world, is about to be very much a hell on Earth for Sawyer and his family.

To his credit, writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber doesn't waste too much time setting the table before getting to the main course. Ten years ago, Sawyer lost half a leg when a hostage negotiation went horribly awry. Cut to the present day: Sawyer is now happily married with kids to Sarah (Neve Campbell), the surgeon who treated him all those years ago. The family have been ensconced in one of the hotel rooms of The Pearl, the Hong Kong glass skyscraper built by architect and visionary Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han), who has enlisted him to assess the building's safety before opening up the residential upper half.

No sooner than Sawyer's meeting with Zhao is over than things start hitting the fan. The villainous Kores Botha (Roland Møller) and his crew have broken into the 96th floor of the high rise to set it on fire and disable the building's anti-fire safety measures. Unfortunately, Sarah and the kids, who were supposed to be spending the day sight-seeing, have returned to conveniently put themselves in harm's way so that Sawyer can race to rescue them. Of course, this involves Sawyer evading Botha's men and Hong Kong police, who believe that he's responsible for the fire, whilst figuring out a way to enter the building which Botha has programmed into lockdown. As Sawyer is played by Johnson, it's only to be expected that the character will clamber up what looks to be a 100-story crane, make a running death-defying leap into The Pearl, dangle by his fingertips at every opportunity, and generally risk his own life in order to save the lives of his loved ones.

Skyscraper is pure, unapologetic escapism and it works very well on its own terms. The issue is not whether it's good or bad but rather that, despite the seemingly never-ending stream of vertiginous shots, there's no genuine sense of danger. Even though one knows all will end well, there should still be a rush of excitement, yet one is inured into mindlessness. The film could have benefited from using more of Johnson's knowing humour, a far more interesting villain, and perhaps more of Campbell's Sarah flexing her action muscles. Even the finale, which is an ode to The Lady From Shanghai's classic hall of mirrors shootout, doesn't quite rouse as it should. Nevertheless and as per usual, Johnson makes it all highly watchable through the sheer force of his charisma though, at this point in his career, he really shouldn't have to.

Skyscraper

Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Written by: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Pablo Schreiber, Noah Taylor, McKenna Roberts, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Hannah Quinlivan