Act One is all plot set up. We lay out the premise, making sure we understand all the risks which will eventually be explored. It is the kind of movie that holds your hand throughout so you don't have to do any of the heavy lifting. Don't worry, all the twists are rather predictable. Nothing in the story requires too much concentration. You don't have to connect many dots. It's a paint by numbers sort of exercise.
Dwayne Johnson has become the go to action movie star. Likeable, accessible, yet still movie star impossible enough to be what the audience wishes they were. He is charming and completely enjoyable. How can you not care about him and his generic family? He's a hero in all the ways we typically expect a hero to be. Once again, non-threatening. Just what one would expect.
Then Act Two delivers all the eyerollingly silly action which we expect from these sorts of films. Skyscraper basically tells you to turn off you mind and just enjoy. The film doesn't give us anything insulting enough to turn us off. As I said it is the text book crowd-pleaser. Not too much so we don't have to weighed down with thinking. Not too little so we laugh at how ridiculous it is.
For me, this tends to get thin and somewhat boring quickly. The run time is short but I looked at my watch. There is only so much I can take of a movie I've seen 100 times before. But for audiences who want to watch the same movie over and over, Skyscraper is for you.
Escapism. There is nothing wrong with it. It hits all the beats you'll want and expect. I find it can be limited in how much it satisfies. But it also ends up being fun enough to waste and evening on.
Skyscraper
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Noah Taylor
Writer/Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
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