Skyscraper

Dwayne Johnson starrer Skyscraper has no real surprises for you as a viewer. These days movies have this habit of releasing too many trailers with too much of details and for me, Skyscraper had zero surprises coming my way. With one man going after an impossible rescue task, Skyscraper, in my opinion, is a less chaotic version of Mr. Johnson’s San Andreas.

Will Sawyer is an ex FBI officer who is now a security assessor of buildings. He lost one leg during his last rescue operation and that was how the FBI career ended. The tallest building in the world, The Pearl is all set to open for the public and before it could open it’s highly vulnerable higher floors, Sawyer was taken on board to check the security threats. Sawyer and his family were the first ones to use the residential side of the building and on the day where Will was given the authority, there was an attack on the building resulting in a fire breakout. Will Sawyer who was not there in the building at that time, now has this responsibility to save his family. How this physically disabled ex FBI officer manages to do that is what the movie talking about.

If there is any take away there from the movie, it will be the fact that Dwayne Johnson is becoming more of an actor rather than a star. Apart from that, Skyscraper is pretty much a clichéd script that just changes its backdrop. I compared this movie with San Andreas because both films look very much alike if you check the structuring of the screenplay. What Rawson Marshall Thurber has done is incorporating the same premise in a Die Hard like setup.  The father is the rescuer, he first rescues his wife and they both go on to rescue their kids and eventually the bad guys will have someone with them so that they can make the hero, who can do anything, do the thing for them. This has been the formula of many movies and in Skyscraper also that formula gets repeated.

Like I said, Dwayne Johnson is more of an actor here when compared to his other films where he is this hunk who acts like the hulk. He sort of has the body and body of work to make us believe all those practically ridiculous stunts. Neve Campbell plays the role of the wife and she was okay. Ng Chin Han and Rolland Moller are the other two major names in this film.

Dwayne Johnson in a recent interview with Forbes said that he believes in his gut and he wants to do movies with a positive vibe. Rawson Marshall Thurber’s script might have worked for him as it ticks the boxes he wanted to showcase in his films. One is positivity and the other is the scope to showcase his action hero image. The opening scene and one scene in the climax of Skyscraper have this close resemblance with Malayalam film Memories and I guess both directors were inspired by the same film. As the stunts were only happening inside this lengthy building, the movie never feels like an exhausting experience. The stunts lack surprise and even the pep talk and strategies of the bad guys look dull. Visual effects are great, but I guess Hollywood is no longer in a position where visual grandeur can be evaluated as the quality of the film.

Skyscraper is a run-of-the-mill action drama that only has a fresh premise but nothing new in its script. The tools in its arsenal are so familiar that only thing you might admire is the CGI aided visual spectacle.

Rating: 2/5