I Watch Films: Skyscraper
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays a former FBI agent who got blown up and is now a security consultant. The tallest building in the world, “The Pearl,” is about to open in Hong Kong and he’s got the job to do the safety audit. The billionaire builder has done some deals with shady people who now need the tablet with the login to control everything.
Obviously his family are in the building when everything goes south.
Anyway, he only has one leg now, which I guess is a thing, fortunately he is still able to run, fight, shoot, jump, climb etc. The first 20-30 minutes of the film is all about setting things up, orienting us about the building, showing us the cool locations for set piece stunts (the vertical park, the turbines that power the building, the weird virtual reality arena in the round thing (the pearl) on the top) as well as the controls for everything. It’s like Chekhov’s putting his whole arsenal on the mantelpiece, and then turning and winking at the camera. Have I just seen too many films, am I just channelling too much Die Hard, Towering Inferno, Dredd etc.? I mean yes I have and yes I am, but this is a less subtle variation on those ideas.
Watch This: For an enjoyable, undemanding action film
Don’t Watch This: If fire and fighting and jumps aren’t your thing, or if you’ve not seen the other films I mentioned in this review. Go and watch them first!
Comments