56% so far: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/skyscraper_2018

So you’re saying that is not in the movie?

Well, I get what you’re saying, but for some people (my wife included), if The Rock is in a movie, it’s a Rock movie. It wouldn’t matter if all he was doing was reading a Wikipedia page.

Okay, since reviews are hitting...

From my review page, Orbi-Wan Goes To The Movie:

Skyscraper (PG-13) - Extremely generic action thriller barely excites, despite the presence of Dwayne Johnson

Oh, my, I’m really not sure what I was supposed to expect going into the latest Dwayne Johnson actioner. Was it a Die Hard homage? Was a tip of the hat to The Towering Inferno? What was Dwayne Johnson going to bring to the table?

Unfortunately, the answers to those three questions are no, nope, and not much. The sad truth is, after two very enjoyable movies (Jumanji: Welcome To The Jungle and Rampage) which were crafted to make the most of Mr. Johnson and his likable, charismatic personality, the new “action thriller” Skyscraper plays more like an expensive-looking Redbox rental you MIGHT pick if all the good stuff has already been checked out on a Saturday evening - much like many of the Bruce Willis fillers we’ve seen lately. It is NOT the entertainment we expect from the man we know and love as “The Rock”.

Johnson plays Sawyer an ex-Marine/FBI hostage negotiator, now a security expert, who is called in to evaluate the integrity of the fire and safety systems of “The Pearl”, the tallest building in the world and brainchild of multi-billionaire Chin Han (Zhao Long Ji). A MacGuffin that Han has endangers his creation, and the building is literally set on fire by a band of mercenaries. The fire endangers not only the building, but Sawyer’s wife (Neve Campbell) and kids, who have come to Hong Kong to see the sites while Daddy works. The mercenaries have shut now all the safety measures above the 95th floor, which conveniently traps Han, his staff, and Sawyer’s family.

Sawyer spends much of the movie involved in stunts that would kill or at least dismember the average human being who is not Dwayne Johnson. Also, I am sure any firefighting professionals who watch “Skyscraper” will sprain their eyes rolling them at all the things that go on in this movie, despite the fact that actors are supposedly running around in what is basically a self-contained fire-filled chimney.

At least movies like San Andres had Dwayne Johnson running around adding a little fun and personality to the proceedings. Instead, we get a “Rock/Johnson” running around on autopilot in a movie that is basically checking off the boxes, and not in a very interesting way. His character could have been pretty much played by anyone, even Vin Diesel. And the only things this movie has in common with classics Die Hard and Towering Inferno is 1) it takes place in a tall building owned by Asians, and 2) it’s on fire.

Yeah, can’t say I feel there is much to recommend about Skyscraper. If it WERE a Redbox rental on a Saturday, I might have enjoyed it more, but as a theatrical film with Dwayne, I’m afraid not. I just expect more from them. I am only giving Skyscraper 1.5 out of 5 lightsabers.

Hey, Rock! There are still five months left in 2018! Can we expect at least one or two more movies before Christmas?

NOTES FOR PARENTS (Minor Spoilers): Skyscraper is rated PG-13 for action violence, mayhem, and language. At least one F-bomb is heard. There are other profanities throughout the film, as well. People are shot, burned, killed in explosions, and necks broken. Once the fire starts, at least one or both of Sawyer’s kids are in peril throughout the film. As mentioned, Sawyer takes risks and actions that would kill a lesser being.

MID- AND AFTER-CREDIT SCENE: Frankly, I did not even stick around to find out… You likely will not, either.

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We saw it today.

Loved it. Loved every bit of absurdity in it.

We did laugh at all the ridiculousness but I felt like it was meant to be that way.

Just one question.
Do you have any duct tape?


We were disappointed about one thing.

Man this was ridiculous and not in a good way. I agree that this could have starred anyone. The Rocks charisma was not on display here. It was just downright silly at times. I was pre-cringing when I thought Neve was going to "turn it off and on again' and sure enough, she did.

Exactly! So disappointing..

I like The Rock but his schtick has been wearing a bit thin with me recently. It just feels like all his movies are the same thing over and over and over again. The thing is I think he’s actually got potential to be a somewhat decent actor but he’s always just pigeonholed into the big action roles.

He has a Rock Machine behind him, kinda like Will Smith did back in his prime, only Rock's people are putting him in shitty movies and molding them to appeal to all four demos. And it's beginning to backfire.

Dude needs to make better script choices.

Didn't think much of this one. Not terrible, just not very exciting. The one plus is Neve Campbell, who doesn't just play the typical wife role. They give her plenty to do.

Just got back from a matinee. Not terrible, but definitely far from being the next Die Hard.

I like Johnson a lot, but this was one of the weaker action scripts he's chosen. His character was not written well enough to utilize his charisma. Sawyer could have been played by anyone...Denzel, Liam Neeson, Liam Hemsworth. Nothing unique about him to fit DJ's character traits, In the few scenes they had together, I did like his moments with Neve and the kids.

Overall plot didn't really make much sense. It was borderline stupid:



Also, for some reason, the scene where Johnson jumps off the crane to the open window at the Pearl seemed much shorter in the movie.

But I did like some of the action and special effects.

Giving it a very generous B- Catch a matinee if you really want to see it.

surprised about HT3 since it's also released for Prime members same day as opened. and not such great reviews that it would pull in those #'s and despite being a mediocre scored movie still thought Dwayne fans would pull it over the top. guess not...

What are you talking about? It isn’t on Prime. Prime Members were just given opportunity to buy tickets to an advanced showing.

Yeah, prime members got an early showing a couple weeks ago, but you had to buy tickets for it. They did the same thing with Jumanji WttJ.

But it won't actually be on Prime for a while yet.

From deadline:

Thinking about it more, Rock was just the wrong person for this role. One of the many many things that makes Die Hard last is Willis every man approach. He got beat up, shot, cut, etc. Hes practically a bloody mess at the end. Rock was barely injured during all this. Near some of the ridiculous beats near the end, I just started laughing. My wife laughed also and said well if anyone can do that, its The Rock. And I think that was a problem. He was a super hero, who they had to hinder with his leg, to try to make it all more suspenseful.

Well, if you're suffering from Johnson burnout, he has no more movies the rest of the year. Only Ballers on HBO which he filmed months ago.

But next year he has 3 on the docket, so he's going to be busy.

As for Skyscraper, I think it should pull in some money from the Asian market as it's set in Hong Kong and he just came back from a big promotional tour in Asia.

I've heard it's not only expected to bomb in China, too, but since this is still an American production - despite all the Chinese money, actors, and tie-ins - returns will still be just 25% of total sales. The studio won't get back the lion's share of ticket sales.

I’m not so much sick of him but his movies are getting old. I like him as a personality but his movies lately are all just feeling like he’s playing variations on the same character.

He should learn to diversify his roles a bit more. Do a straight comedy, not action-comedy or even try roles that have a bit more dramatic work involved. He’s done things aside from just action in the past and has some decent range as an actor (not saying he gives award winning performances or anything but he’s fine). Don’t keep on playing basically the same superhero action character, especially multiple times in the same year and be surprised that some people find it old.

I don't think even Schwarzenegger or Stallone in their primes were doing multiple samey films a year. Maybe over the course of a couple years or so but The Rock is spreading himself too thin fast and its starting to not work as well.

They couldn't even bother to cover his huge tattoo (for one scene, as I recall), which just makes the character seem more like Johnson than a character he's playing.

The problem with this movie is that it's been done before (Diehard) and it seems like they were playing to that same demo (bringing back 90's star Neve Campbell) and that crowd who grew up with these movies yet has sort of moved on. This would be no different then bringing back Arnold or Sly for another action movie, would anyone expect that equal their box office from the 80's? And they keep thinking they are going to play to women bringing these kick-ass females, and that never works either. I saw Neve Campbell on multiple interviews and they kept touting how she kicks just as much as as the Rock does (in a joking way). These types of movies just don't appeal to most women (of course I'm generalizing before anyone attacks me for sounding sexist).

Side note: as an old school wrestling fan it’s weird to see his Brahma Bull tattoo not there anymore. The one he covered it up with is sorta ugly too.

Saw it this w/e it was fun for what it was. I wasn't expecting much at all but was decently entertained.
Thankfully I had MP which is the only way I would have seen this in the theaters. The sphere was very cool.

Saw this last night, and had fun with it. I hear the complaint about generic villains, but I found the Asian chick baddie to be really bad-ass with an interesting look.

I like the story element of the fire and having no option but to go up to the higher floors. The tech in the film was fun and played an interesting role in the end as well.

Skyscraper is no more absurd than the Fast and Furious movies, but still a fun watch.