Skyscraper

"Don't look down"

2018 1h 42m EN

😐

6.3

MID

★6.3TMDB · 5,471

ActionThrillerAdventure

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Framed and on the run, a former FBI agent must save his family from a blazing fire in the world's tallest building.

“Don't look down”

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Cast

Dwayne Johnson
Will Sawyer
Neve Campbell
Sarah Sawyer
Chin Han
Zhao Long Ji
Roland Møller
Kores Botha
Noah Taylor
Mr. Pierce
Byron Mann
Inspector Wu
Pablo Schreiber
Ben
McKenna Roberts
Georgia Sawyer

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Writers: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English
Countries: Japan, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$125M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 8 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Japan, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

295+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, shot by Robert Elswit. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Steve Jablonsky. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Michael L. Sale shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Rawson Marshall Thurber directs. Robert Elswit behind the camera. Steve Jablonsky scores. Michael L. Sale cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Japan, United States of America. Dialogue in Cantonese, Mandarin, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$125M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Released 8 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Cantonese, Mandarin, English.
4International production across 2 countries: Japan, United States of America.
5295+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, shot by Robert Elswit. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Steve Jablonsky. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Michael L. Sale shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Dwayne Johnson and Neve Campbell and Chin Han carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Don't look down".
11IMDB entry: tt5758778 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 11 themes, including "fire", "china", "skyscraper", "hong kong".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Original score: Steve Jablonsky
Editing: Michael L. Sale
Production design: James D. Bissell
Costume design: Ann Foley
Makeup / hair: Joanna Mireau
VFX supervisor: Bernhard Kimbacher
Sound: Noyan Coşarer
Stunt coordinator: J.J. Perry
Runtime: 102 min · 1h 42m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $125,000,000
Box office: $304,870,828
Return: 244% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Skyscraper (2018)

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Rawson Marshall Thurber

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Jedi Burrell2018-07-16
★ 5/10
You might expect a former FBI agent to be able to handle a gun, or protect himself at gunpoint. But you sure as hell don’t expect a doctor to, and yet, Sarah Sawyer can not only steal a gun pointed at her, she can stop a burning building’s fire without even being in the building! Will Sawyer’s posed with a challenge when the tablet that he was for some reason given with full control of the security system and just about everything else about the building, gets stolen, the building set on fire, and his family stuck above the fire with little means to get out. Will, who is now a suspect, takes it upon himself to enter the burning building, get his family, and leave the burning building. This isn’t as easy as that sounds, because there’s a MacGuffin to be gotten and the people that set the building on fire will stop at nothing to get it. Oh, and did I mention he only has one leg! Minor spoilers ahead. Skyscraper was extremely predictable, the only thing I didn’t see coming was the fact that they wasted five minutes of our time showing Will telling Sarah to turn off and back on her phone to fix it, just to set up the ending where Sarah turns off and back on the building to stop the fire. The one thing I did enjoy from this film was near the ending when they’re in The Pearl, but you don’t watch a movie for a single scene. Rawson Thurber should stick to comedy, where he has experience. This is a waste of the $125,000,000 it took to make it, and it’s a waste of the $12 to watch it. Skip this one.
Dark Jedi2018-12-16
★ 6/10
Well, if you are a fan of The Rock this is a decent enough high octane action, disaster and special effects movie. If not, well then you probably have to be a pretty big fan of special effects and action to overlook its weak points. Let’s start with the good stuff. One, it is The Rock (yes I am a fan) although he certainly doesn’t come out at his best in this movie. Personally I could do without the artificial leg crap but it didn’t bother me too much in the end. It didn’t really add anything except some silly (and unrealistic scenes) though. Then we have the action and the special effects. They were as good as you would expect from a multi million dollar action movie. At least I enjoyed them. I really liked the design of the Skyscraper. I thought it was booth cool and beautiful. I kind of would like to see it built in real life. Was the movie derivative? Well of course it can be said to be derivative! How many movies with burning Skyscrapers and bad guys hi-jacking them can you make before it becomes derivative after all? The first movie named Skyscraper was made in 1928 for Christ sake. It didn’t bother me at all. Now for the not so good. The movie was hugely predictable. I mean, you could tell who the bad guys were from the first scene they were in. Especially the rat faced jerk Mr Pierce. The main bad guy? Well, he was no Hans Gruber that’s for sure. More like a common thug. The movie really lacked a bad guy with some charisma. Overall, most of the movie from start to finish was really a no-surprise-there event from the first bad guy entering the scene to the rebooting of the systems. Then we have the realism factor. I do not expect an action and special effects movie to be realistic but there are some limits. Sawyer climbing around on the outside of the building (with one leg remember) in the updraft from 50 or so burning levels was just nonsense. Also, a building burning that much and that long and yet all the electrical wiring and plumbing still working was a bit too much. The absolutely worst offence though was how everyone magically survived sitting in the middle of the fire being extinguished by the release of halon gas (or some equivalent). That just brings stupidity (or maybe laziness) in script writing to a whole new level. So, to sum it up, this move could have been a lot better. To me it was saved by The Rock and my love of special effects loaded action movies.
Gimly2019-01-20
★ 4/10
Die Hard in a (X) is a pretty classic movie formula, it doesn't get as much play now as it did in the 80s and 90s, but we can still reliably expect at least one every couple of years, even now. But when it's Die Hard in a Skyscraper... I mean... That's just Die Hard. Even Die Hard 2 had the sensibility to be Die Hard in an Airport. Except that, no, this isn't just Die Hard, because (and I don't think anyone would be shocked to find this) it's not as good. I mean I love The Rock and all, but come on. Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product.