This should be a nice easy one. All you need to do is watch a couple trailers and read a basic plot description, and you know exactly what you’re getting with Skyscraper. Normally that would be a bad thing; having a movie be so obvious usually would take away lots of the tension and excitement as the movie progresses. However, Skyscraper was able to avoid falling into that trap. And how were they able to manage that? By knowing what the movie was supposed to be and leaning into that 100%.
Director Rawson Marshall Thurber resisted the temptation to try to make his movie more than what it was (and more than what it was capable of being). He was able to play to the strengths of his star, Dwayne Johnson. Johnson is at his best when he performing ridiculous feats, which Skyscraper has in spades. He’s a serviceable actor to be sure, but he usually needs to be able to offset his shortcomings as an actor with his physical abilities.
And that’s really all there is. If you’re looking for a deep, intellectual, plot-driven, genre-defining movie, this is not that movie. But if you want a big summer blockbuster that’s tons of fun from start to finish, Skyscraper will do the trick just fine.
Movie: Skyscraper
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Pablo Schreiber, Chin Han, Roland Møller
Genre: Action, crime
Rated: PG-13 for sequences of violence and action, and brief strong language
My rating: 75/100
Follow me on Twitter @MattHambidge and Instagram @matthambidge.
Follow News From The Couch on Twitter @NFTCouch and Instagram @newsfromthecouch.
