Skyscraper (1996)

Skyscraper (1996) is the kind of scrappy, high-concept action thriller that grabs you by the collar and drags you up 86 floors without stopping to catch its breath. It’s a lean, low-budget Die Hard-style ride where the pleasures are wonderfully direct: practical stunts, crunchy explosions, and the sheer, crowd-pleasing satisfaction of watching Anna Nicole Smith’s helicopter pilot refuse to be anyone’s victim. The vibe is loud, pulpy, and proudly of its era, with set pieces that keep finding new ways to turn glass, steel, and gravity into suspense. If you need prestige or subtlety, this isn’t your stop—but if you’re on the fence and want an energetic, unpretentious adrenaline hit, it delivers.

Skyscraper (1996) is clearly aiming for a Die Hard-style high-rise siege: big stakes, ticking-clock terrorism, and a regular person forced into a hero role with plenty of vertical stunts. The problem is the execution—acting and dialogue are often stiff, the pacing lurches, and the plot leans so heavily on familiar beats that it rarely feels like it has its own identity. If you need sharp performances, clever writing, or even basic plausibility to stay engaged, this will test your patience. Still, if you’re in the mood for a scrappy, low-budget 90s action curio with a few fun set-pieces and you can enjoy it as campy late-night fare, you might get some guilty-pleasure value out of it.