Die Hard With The Rock

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By Tom Pacak

I love Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. I think he may be the coolest guy on the planet next to Sam Rockwell. I think what he does on social media is fantastic. I’ve never seen an actor show so much love for his fans. In fact, even his videos at the gym have encouraged me to work my butt off! What can’t he do?

Unfortunately, he’s not the best at picking original scripts. He’s done the “Fast & Furious,” Jumanji sequel, and “Skyscraper.” But let's be real, nobody watches a Rock movie for the originality. I don’t remember walking out of a Rock movie and going, “Hey, that was a really original and thought-provoking flick!” We watch them for the over-the-top action that fits best with pepperoni pizza and a couple of cold ones. He’s truly great at what he does so I can’t criticize there. 

“Skyscraper” opens up with Will Sawyer, a US war veteran, and FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader. He wears a prosthetic leg after a tragic suicide bombing blew up his leg. He works in Hong Kong as a security guard who helps develop security to skyscrapers. Will is clearly good at his job as he’s the only one that knows the building inside and out. He also has a very intelligent wife Sarah (Neve Campbell), who is a trained surgeon fluent in several languages. She later plays a role as the white savior who helps track down the terrorists. 

“The Pearl” is about 3500 feet and 225 stories tall. Frequent Paul Thomas Anderson cinematographer Robert Elswit gets to show off his talent with cool shots of the skyscraper. Long Ji (Chin Han), is the owner of the building who may have worked with some shady people. Kind of like, working with a criminal organization and then getting extorted money type of mistake. The terrorist group is lead by another Hans Gruder wannabe Kores Botha (Roland Moller), a criminal who once worked with Zhao. Zhao has a hard drive that gives all of the detailed crimes Kores and his minions have committed. Without this drive, all of the Kores’ secrets can be exposed to the authorities. The group then sets the building on fire. Great idea! This actually works out due to the building being over 225 stories tall. Zhao resides on the top floor so the fire won’t reach him. The problem is that Will’s wife and kids are stuck on the 96th floor.

You can see all of the plot points coming a mile away. Will does the impossible and goes up to the building, and a supposed good guy is actually a bad guy. Also, the bad guys here are not developed at all. They’re just there to get shot at and thrown off the skyscraper.  Luckily, director Rawson Marshall Thurber (Dodgeball, Central Intelligence) isn’t concerned about developing these characters. You get the occasional kid with asthma cliché and scenes of family sticking together, but those are all there as waiting periods for the real action.

I probably would have liked this movie a lot better if it didn’t take itself too seriously. The Rock and the movie try a little too hard to be serious in a movie that keeps getting ridiculous as it goes on. I get the whole message of the film is that during a time needed, a character with a disability will rise to the occasion to save the day. But the character does dangerous stuff, which even a person with both legs couldn’t do. “Skyscraper” is enough to keep you entertained but it's certainly not enough to remember.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4


Note: Now Playing in Theaters


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