I’m always up for a good action movie. I have the mindset that no matter how bad a blockbuster action movie is, it’s still worth a watch when it’s big, loud and fun. All you have to do is have a little suspension of disbelief.
Well, there is suspension of disbelief, and then there’s “Skyscraper.”
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson stars as a security consultant for a super high-tech building in Hong Kong. He and his family are in the building early with only the billionaire owner and his security team. This is when the building is overtaken by terrorists in an attempt to blackmail the owner, unknowingly trapping the Rock’s family inside. Basically a “Die Hard”/ “Towering Inferno” mix, but not good at all.
I mentioned that this movie had some unbelievable scenes in it. They are so bad it actually distracted me from enjoying the movie. For example, the Rock (who plays an amputee with a prosthetic leg), climbs the outside of a construction crane to a height higher than the fire. Sounds OK, right? Well, the fire is on the 96th floor! Now, I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it would take an incredibly long time to climb 96 flights of stairs, so I can’t imagine how long it would take to climb a construction tower with one-and-a-half legs.
In another scene, Neve Campbell (as the Rocks’ wife) is carrying her child on her back across a makeshift bridge made out of a broken piece of wood. It is very unstable and just barely long enough to reach each end. Halfway across she falls, and with her son on her back, manages to grab the board, hang on and climb back onto the board. It’s ridiculous.
Overall, the move is big and loud, and really stupid. The Rock needs to start choosing his roles better.