Show-stealer here is Dwayne

Film: Skyscraper

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Noah Taylor, Ng Chin Han, Pablo Schreiber

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber

Rating:

An unoriginal plot is saved by an exemplary character, ex-U. S. military security expert in this action thriller disaster flick, where the titular structure is the agency for much of the adrenaline-charged action.

The principal character Will Sawyer is a U.S. war veteran turned FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader, who is forced to retire after a mission goes wrong and results in grave physical impairment. Equipped with a prosthetic leg, he diverts into the security business, to rack up a top dollar client: The world’s highest building whose lower floors are leased to offices whereas occupancy in the higher floors comprising residential apartments have been stalled by insurers.

However, Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han), the billionaire owner of this Pearl of great price makes special arrangements for Sawyer’s wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) and kids Georgia (McKenna Roberts) and Henry (Noah Cottrell) to stay in an empty flat while he conducts the mandated insurance assessment.

Easier said than done. For, vested interests are at work. Foul deeds are afoot. Soaring hundreds of storeys into the Hong Kong firmament, the building turns into a towering inferno. Needless to say, there are malignant forces behind a Lie from which Sawyer must extricate himself; salvage his reputation and save his family much in the manner of Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise and...too many to name.

Bravery, courage and selfsacrifice are extolled as exemplary virtues while our hero sets out on what seems a mission impossible. Only, suspend disbelief while he goes about his business.

Notwithstanding the implausible plot, the big budget, visually splendid Skyscraper is entertaining, thanks to high octane action sequences and special effects.

Johnson, of course, never disappoints and carries the film on his broad shoulders.