Skyscraper

Last night I finally had the chance to see the action thriller Skyscraper.  Dwayne Johnson plays Will Sawyer, a former FBI hostage negotiator turned security consultant.  He is hired to analyse the security of the world's tallest building, The Pearl, owned by billionaire Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han).  Kores Botha (Roland Moller), an international terrorist who has been extorting Zhao, leads a team who sets fire to the 96th floor of the building and frames Sawyer to take the blame.  Sawyer's wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) and his kids Georgia and Henry (McKenna Grace and Noah Cottrell) are are inadvertently trapped in a residential unit above the 96th floor so he must elude both the police and the villains to rescue them from the building.  The story is incredibly derivative and the reason why the villains have attacked the building is pretty ridiculous but there are some innovative action sequences that are seriously cool and, to be honest, that is why I went to see this movie.  These include when Sawyer climbs a 100-story crane and then uses it to jump into a broken window of The Pearl as the fire rages on, when he rappels down the building using duct tape on his hands in order to get to an access panel behind a wind turbine, and when he confronts Botha in an elaborate virtual-reality room filled with hundreds of screens.  He completes all of the feats of daring with a prosthetic leg, which he uses very inventively in one scene, which makes them even more thrilling.  Johnson is his charismatic self and I really liked Campbell's portrayal of Sarah because she is just as resourceful and daring as Sawyer.  This movie is not perfect but I enjoyed it for what is, a bit of summer escapism.