Movie Review: “Skyscraper” might seem a little familiar to action fans

Movie Review: “Skyscraper” (PG-13)

If you’re overcome with a sense of deja vu while watching the new action film “Skyscraper,” there’s a reason for it. It’s because this film is stitched together with elements from several action movies you probably saw in the ’80s and ’90s. Remember how popular “Die Hard” was? It was so popular, in fact, that a handful of action movies that followed were often referred to as “Die Hard” on ______ (fill in the blank): “Speed” was “Die Hard” on a bus, “Executive Decision” was “Die Hard” on a plane, “Speed 2” was “Die Hard” on a boat, “Sudden Death” was “Die Hard” in a hockey stadium, etc. Some of the previously mentioned films were certainly better than others, most notably “Speed,” but in all cases, it was easy to see why the “Die Hard” comparisons were being made. This brings us to the latest Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson actioneer, “Skyscraper,” which is basically “Die Hard” in … a building! Wait a minute, what? Been there, done that.

In “Skyscraper,” Dwayne Johnson plays rugged family man, Will Sawyer, an FBI-hostage-team-leader-turned-building-security-expert who literally finds himself stuck between a rock and a hard place after the massive Hong Kong-based high rise he’s been working for is lit ablaze by a squad of ruthless mercenaries. Worse still, Sawyer’s wife (Neve Campbell) and two kids (McKenna Roberts and Noah Cottrell) are trapped on one of the upper floors of the world’s largest skyscraper while he’s helplessly stuck on the outside. So Sawyer does what any other loving father would do in this situation: He finds a way back into the burning building so that he might save his family.

This is clearly a Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson vehicle, and this superstar certainly has plenty of charisma to spare. What’s most interesting about Johnson in this picture, though, is that he doesn’t do the macho alpha-male superhero action-star thing. Johnson is very human and surprisingly low key in a movie that is very far from low key. Don’t get me wrong. The Rock does get to kick ass and dispatch bad guys here, but “Commando” he is not. That said, one of my biggest misgivings with “Skyscraper” is that Sawyer is never given the opportunity to beat anyone over the head with his titanium leg. Had he done that, I might have been compelled to give this movie a slightly higher rating.

“Skyscraper” was directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, the man behind 2004’s “Dodgeball” of all things, and that’s fitting because there’s plenty of humor to be found in this movie — some intentional and some not so intentional. “Skyscraper” is full of over-the-top action, predictable double crosses, and characters with hidden agendas, and it all culminates in a telegraphed climax that owes more than a small debt to “Enter the Dragon.” Still, Thurber does mount a few nifty set pieces, and the visual effects aren’t half bad.

Yes, “Skyscraper” is derivative, ridiculous, and riddled with cliches. But in the end, there’s still plenty of fun to be had here, and a great deal of that has to do with Johnson’s natural likability as a performer. Furthermore, this flick is substantially more entertaining than stuff like “London Has Fallen,” and it’s certainly a stronger Johnson vehicle than this year’s forgettable monster mash “Rampage.”

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