‘Skyscraper’ gets points for nostalgia

“Towering Inferno,” meet the 21st century “Die Hard.” Move over Roland Emmerich: there’s a new disaster artist in town, and it’s none other than Rawson Marshall Thurber. Who? The guy who brought you “We’re the Millers” and “Dodgeball,” of course. Surprised? Me too, but he captures devastation exceptionally well… If it were 1988.

The world’s tallest building has been completed in Hong Kong, and security expert Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) and his family are the first to live in the residential segment. Located 90 stories up, there is a lush park separating the mixed-use facility from the ground below. Rising high into the stratosphere is another 130 stories of apartments and condos, simply awaiting the approval of the insurance provider and, you guessed it, the security expert.

Once an FBI hostage negotiator, Sawyer has found redemption in the form of his loving family after a standoff-gone-wrong took his leg and his badge 10 years prior. Now, he’s the only one who can save the day when a group of savvy European terrorists take over the Nakatomi, er, I mean, Zhou Long Ji tower.  Sound familiar? It should, because Bruce Willis got a little banged up back in 1988, and both heroes managed to sustain cuts, falls, bruises, burns, and still single-handedly defeat military-grade henchmen with nothing but a little duct tape, elbow grease and ingenuity.

The similarities to the Bruce Willis classic don’t end with the characters, plot, tension and high-flying explosions. There is a vibe attached to this film that, despite of the unabashedly transparent cliché and lack of originality, is just plain fun. The film certainly took me back to the ‘80’s, when action films took themselves too seriously, but also always maintained the feel that you were watching a movie. Not compelling enough to be immersive, and never believable in the slightest. Just good, old fashioned popcorn-munching entertainment.

Set in Hong Kong, and with many Chinese actors in critical roles (including Chinese superstar Chin Han), there is clearly an angle to dominate the Chinese market. Predicted to make around $40 million domestically during opening weekend, on a budget of just $120 million, I see this being a tremendously profitable film for producer Dwayne Johnson and others. In fact, depending on his cut, I reckon he will top Hollywood’s earners list for 2018 without much competition.

I’m not saying this is a good movie. Quite the contrary, but it struck a nerve with me, and for that I have to give it a slightly higher rating than if I were being truly objective — perhaps due to a bit of nostalgia. And, to be honest, the building had some pretty cool features that may or may not be architecturally accurate. The artificial leg didn’t seem to slow our hero down much, and was even used in a couple of innovative ways during his travails, but otherwise seemed to be a bit of a gimmick that they could have done without. It’s also hard to imagine Dwayne Johnson playing a meek anti-hero, so the film could have gone a different direction if they had a less imposing protagonist. But that’s not the point, is it? Nope, because we want to see muscles, rappelling, climbing monkey bars 2,000 feet in the sky, and punches that can knock guys out of their socks.

We all know that money drives sequels, so I’m already waiting on “Skyscraper 2: Higher and even more Skyscrapier.” Maybe they can tackle Dubai this time. You should enjoy this one, so settle in, grab some popcorn, and reminisce about John McClane.