Skyscraper (2018)

Skyscraper is the kind of big, breathless popcorn thriller that knows exactly what it is: a high-rise pressure cooker built to deliver clean, crowd-pleasing suspense and jolts of adrenaline. Rawson Marshall Thurber stages the action with a gleeful sense of scale—glass, steel, fire, and vertigo—while Dwayne Johnson anchors the mayhem with enough grit and heart to make the stakes feel personal, especially as the danger closes in on his family. The vibe is classic summer-movie fun: implausible in the way roller coasters are, but engineered for momentum, close calls, and that satisfying “how is he going to get out of this?” tension. If you’re looking for grounded realism, this isn’t it—but if you want a brisk, entertaining ride that commits to its thrills, it’s an easy ticket to punch.

Skyscraper is trying to be a big, old-school disaster-siege thriller: one heroic parent against impossible odds, a ticking-clock fire, and a towering playground for stunts. The problem is it’s so heavily built from better movies’ blueprints that you can often predict the beats, the villains feel more like plot devices than people, and the script mostly exists to shuttle Dwayne Johnson to the next set piece. That said, Johnson’s sheer commitment and the clean, easy-to-follow action give it some popcorn value, especially if you just want a straightforward “save the family” ride. If you’re hoping for fresh twists, smart cat-and-mouse tension, or memorable antagonists, this one will likely feel like a glossy rerun.