Dwayne Johnson is one of the best and most effective action actors of our generation who uses his dramatic skills to bring depth to the characters he portrays, who seemingly are created only to showcase how cool they are in fighting scenes or during the racing of various cars. However, with “Skyscraper” from Legendary Entertainment and widely distributed by Universal Pictures, Johnson is left to stretch his physical abilities as Will Sawyer, a former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and amputee, who must now run in the highest building in the world that is on fire to save his family.
The films begins with a scene ten years ago, when Will Sawyer with his teammates are about to rescue a little girl held hostage by her own father. When the mission goes wrong, perhaps, due to the inability to read the target’s mind thoroughly, the self-detonated bomb destroys everything around and leaves Sawyer without one leg. Ten years later he can no longer participate in active missions, understandably though, but now assesses security of skyscrapers, where he himself with his family, including wife Sarah Sawyer (Neve Campbell) and two children live in.
The skyscraper known as “The Pearl” is considered one of the tallest in the world when it is attacked by terrorists and set on fire, and on top of that, Will is being framed and hunted by the police. But the actual attack plan goes wrong right from the beginning, when Will’s family returns to the building right before it’s being attacked and left alone afterwards to fight against the fire in a building that has all the high-tech features which can be controlled by just a click from Will’s tablet, which has now been taken over by the terrorists.
The film itself is action packed indeed and contains tons of beautifully shot scenes. But there’s one thing this type of film tops others in its approach, I hope you will notice as well, taken towards female stars such as Hannah Quinlivan as Xia and Neve Campbell as Sarah. Both female actresses were not in the film just to beautify scenes. Both were heavily engaged in every scene they appeared in, while one was as a villain, Sarah was a crucial part for Will to be able to finish his mission successfully.
Rawson Marshall Thurber was quite respectful when he was writing scenes for Neve Campbell allowing her to be as active as Dwayne Johnson. Fighting scenes she was part of or showcasing her skills as an analyst are essential in the film, where the last button to be pushed will be up to her, if she figures that out. Johnson, of course, did an outstanding job to deliver the best part of the film that could be used as an inspiration for anyone who happens to be an amputee.
In conclusion, as I am trying not to give away much of the film, and in fact, even leaving basic facts from covering in my review, “Skyscraper” is the perfect popcorn film that delivers the best it could to entertain the audience. All the visual effects, camera work or even the sound effects are top notch, which I am sure, might be considered for some awards. And of course, it’s all about the man who will try to save his family and maybe save the tallest building from collapsing one might think. But it is not Dwayne Johnson alone who will accomplish that, as with such a difficult task described in the film, team-work will be required where Neve Campbell, I can’t stop stressing this enough, was a brilliant addition for Johnson to go through all the madness you’re about to see as his screen partner.