Movie review: Skyscraper
How far would you go to protect your family?
Rating 3/5
In Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's case, it would be how high - 98 storeys, to be exact.
You would have seen in the trailer how he sprints across the arm of a construction crane and launches himself in an epic jump toward the broken window of an adjacent building.
There is some hilarious Internet chatter where mathematics and physics experts weigh in on the possibility of such an absurd leap.
Apart from that insane stunt, Johnson one-ups the famous Tom Cruise-Burj Khalifa scene from Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2010).
This Die Hard-like action thriller has adrenaline-pumping sequences that are worth the ticket price.
But let us not forget that the heart of it all is what a loving husband and father would do to try and save his family.
While it is nice to see Scream star Neve Campbell back on the big screen, Singaporean actor Chin Han having a meaty role and Taiwanese actress Hannah Quinlivan kicking ass, they are merely fulfilling their obligations.
Some parts of Skyscraper are like a reality show, where bystanders gasp and cheer as they watch Johnson's heroic efforts live on a huge TV screen, courtesy of a roving helicopter from a TV station.
Even the police are glued to their monitors. Then again, there is no need for the cavalry when you have Johnson.
Writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber calls his leading man "a bulletproof superhero without a cape", and Johnson's fans agree with him wholeheartedly.
Johnson has built a blazing career defying the law of physics, having gone up against earthquakes, mutant animals and surviving crazy car stunts.
Now he can add scaling a blazing tower to his list of impossible missions.
MOVIE: Skyscraper
STARRING: Dwayne Johnson, Neve
Campbell, Chin Han, Byron Mann, Hannah
Quinlivan
DIRECTOR: Rawson Marshall Thurber
THE SKINNY: A former FBI agent and
amputee (Johnson) is hired to assess the
security of the world’s tallest building
known as The Pearl. When a criminal
syndicate sets the skyscraper on fire, it’s
up to him to save his family, who are
trapped in the towering inferno.
RATING: PG13
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