Of all the movies I have seen over summer vacation, I found “Skyscraper” to be one of the movies where you just have to question the storyline and the action that is involved. Starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, “Skyscraper” depicts a story of a broken-down man who has a wife and two kids in one huge skyscraper tower. This “tower” houses a Chinese businessman who acts as its owner. The building is so enormous they had to state that it is taller than the Tower of Babel. Rest assured, the plot is about Johnson’s character trying to save his wife, two kids and the businessman from invading terrorists that want three things: money, power and complete destruction of the tower. Throughout “Skyscraper,” there were some comparisons to “Die Hard,” in regards to Johnson’s character going solo and using whatever item he can to save the day. Although the film captures the action in regard to stunts and pure adrenaline rushes, the major problem that I noticed within the film is the usage of action and the excessive special effects.
As for the action, Johnson never fired a shot throughout the movie, which differs from Die Hard due to the amount of gore and violence presented throughout. I personally felt certain he was going to fire a gun when facing one of the terrorists in an act of justice, but alas, he went passive and caved in for the sake of morality. Another issue with the movie is the exact pacing. The movie starts slow in regards to setting up the plot, and when the terrorists come into the tower, the plot instantly jumps to a conflict. Plus, Johnson never contacted the police for assistance; yet, they did make an appearance halfway in the film.
I also had a problem with the special effects. Almost the entire film seems to value special effects over story, and most of the action scenes focused on the destruction of the skyscraper. If a true action fan wants to see a hit of Johnson defeating “the bad guy,” try “Central Intelligence,” “The Scorpion King” or any past film that depicted Johnson firing a gun. All in all, “Skyscraper” did not meet my expectations, and I personally would rather see “Mission Impossible: Fallout” than see something like this—an action movie with so little action. Stick to the genre!
Nicholas is a student at West Chester University. ✉ NB790429@wcupa.edu.