There were true guilty pleasures in 1974's "The Towering Inferno", the huge box office hit that's a source of inspiration for 2018's SKYSCRAPER.
The special effects 44 years later are incredible, giving a sense of realism to the new film that Irwin Allen could only dream about so many years ago. But damned if the old film isn't still more fun to watch.
Dwayne Johnson gives it 1000% as Will Sawyer, a security advisor brought in to check out the safety of the most modern, tallest, kick-ass building in the world, snuggled into Kowloon Harbor in Hong Kong.
Push "Towering Inferno" to the side and shove in "Die Hard" and you've got a nefarious gaggle of bad guys wanting to take down the building for some pretty silly reasons when they are finally revealed.
But let's be honest, the plot is secondary to putting The Rock in some hairy situations and letting him spectacularly find a way to survive. On THAT count, the film delivers, but at a level of surreal action that seems more suitable to a superhero film than a Bond/Bourne action hero.
Neve Campbell (Scream, Party of Five) makes a welcome and admirable return to the screen as Sarah Sawyer, Will's wife, who's anything but a pushover to our villains.
Chin Han is very good as the wealthy owner of our ill-fated tower, Roland Moller (Atomic Blonde) is a good baddie and both kids are well cast.
An opening scene of Will's days leading a special forces unit play into the plot later, but like much of the plot, a bit too predictably to carry any real emotion.
For a fun summer popcorn movie, SKYSCRAPER is just fine, but don't apply any thought at all to the proceedings; the writers clearly didnt.
Director Rawson Marshall Thurber (We're the Millers, Dodgeball) should stick to comedy.
Fun but predictable, somehow too silly and a bit ponderous at the same time, SKYSCRAPER is 30 minutes of incredible action in search of a better movie.
That scene with the mirrors is so predictable I sat there waiting for it the last 20 minutes. Scaramanga's fun house seems an ill fit, right OO7 fans?
Dwayne towers over the movie.
He deserves better.
SKYSCRAPER comes up short and gets a C+.
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