Summary:
A security expert must save his family from a 225-story building that is besieged by criminals and also on fire.
My Thoughts:
When I first saw the trailer for this film I thought to myself, “That looks like a big dumb action movie.” When the film hit theaters, people called it a big dumb action movie. And now that I’ve seen it, I can confirm for myself: this is a big dumb action movie. Of course, if you’ve seen any other of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s (“Rampage”, “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”) action films, then this is exactly what you’d expect to see: it’s loud, ridiculous, sometimes funny, never boring, but it never boasts any memorable moments either. This is a film that will be forgotten by the time Dwayne’s next movie hits theaters, but that’s okay; I’ve come to realize that some movies just aren’t for me, but they’re perfect for other people. This movie is the epitome what pre-teen boys would think is cool, and it doesn’t really try to elevate itself above that. For my roommate and myself, whom watched this on a cold October Saturday morning, it was perfectly entertaining (though not stimulating) for the hour and forty minutes we watched it. Would I recommend this film? Heavens no. Would I bash someone else for enjoying this movie? Not at all! This movie is exactly what it set out to be, and while I never expect movies like this to win awards, they do rake in the big bucks. People seem to love Dwayne The Rock Johnson in whatever he’s in (heck, I’ve seen his last three movies and I only think he’s a likeable lead), and that too, is fine. He’s a charismatic actor who carries this subpar film almost entirely as his own, and I can’t say I was ever bored, despite it being incredibly predictable.
“If you can’t fix it with duct tape, you’re not using enough duct tape.”
Years after a bomb took his leg, Will Sawyer (Johnson), an EX-FBI agent, now works in security, and his latest project is a 225-story super-skyscraper in Hong Kong. Sawyer’s wife Sarah (Neve Campbell, “Scream”) and their children Henry (Noah Cottrell) and Georgia (McKenna Roberts) move into the tower before any of the other residents are allowed in. When Sawyer is off site, a team of terrorists led by Kores Botha (Roland Moller, “Land of Mine”) and a woman named Xia (Hannah Quinlivan, “Moon River”) storm the building and set it on fire. Desperate to save his family, Sawyer enters the building and fights his way towards the top.
So, as I mentioned above, this is a movie that you get exactly what you’d expect to get. It’s pretty stupid in terms of logic; many of the designs of the building, when thought about even for a moment, make no sense whatsoever. The story is pretty much “Die Hard”, though PG-13 and with an absolutely ridiculous skyscraper. The characters are pretty thin and really only exist to carry you from one action scene to the next. The film starts with an action scene, there’s about thirty minutes of set up during which we’re shown various parts of the tower, and then after that the rest of the film is action. People shoot or get shot plenty of times, the body count is surprisingly high for a PG-13 film, the sequences themselves are frequently predictable, but fun. The problem with this movie is that, if you decide to turn your brain on for even a moment things start to fall apart. For instance: why would there be a retractable helicopter pad for a building this tall? Why would you have your entire security system linked to one iPad? Why doesn’t the safe house where the designer of the tower, Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han, “The Dark Knight”), stays have an override for the safety systems in the tower? Wouldn’t having one leg make it more difficult for the Rock to fight people/ jump across great distances? Why would a two hundred and twenty-five story skyscraper have a virtual reality thing in a giant ball at the top of the tower- like, what purpose does that serve at all? Do they plan on having a bunch of people up there to play video games, or was it literally just there to have a cool place for a final shootout? Why was this tower built if they weren’t sure it would be safe until after Dwayne checked it out? How much did this tower cost, how long did it take to make? What sort of architect would put spinning turbines to guard a system that requires regular maintenance? I could go on and on and on about all the plot holes/ just stupid writing in this film, but why would I? This is a movie that I knew would be pretty stupid before I started it; if you looked at the poster or trailer for this film and thought it might be up for some awards, you’re gravely mistaken. This movie set out to be a stupid action movie, and that’s what it was. I can’t fault it for being exactly what it wanted to be just because that sort of thing doesn’t work entirely for me.
Verdict:
There is a huge market out there for films like this; clearly, because this movie this movie doubled it’s budget in the worldwide box office. I certainly found myself amused throughout this flick, but I was never really invested enough that I felt any connection to the characters or story. This is a good background movie- you could literally walk away for twenty minutes and probably not miss much. In short, this movie isn’t great, but for the right audience, it will certainly entertain. See it if you want, don’t see it and you wont be missing anything… at least it was better than “Rampage”.
Review Written By: