Skyscraper

Whereas there are many international action films that seem like they're trying to capture an American aesthetic, while working within their own sociopolitical cultural regulations and/or guidelines, Rawson Marshall Thurber's Skyscraper comes across like an American action film attempting to capture that very same Americanized international aesthetic, if that makes any sense, a shout out to the burgeoning Chinese film industry perhaps, which must be releasing abundant raw materials.

Set in Hong Kong, English subtitles are frequently used as Chinese characters speak their mother tongue, which makes you feel like you're situated within an international filmscape as opposed to a global anglofied disco.

Whatevs!

When Chinese characters do speak English they do so to accommodate rather than flatter internationals.

Unreeling at a hectic pace, Will Sawyer's (Dwayne Johnson) character is developed well early on, a humble yet exceptional easy to relate to everyperson who's successfully bounced back from total and complete disaster.

He's so laidback yet competent, a wonderful guy, that I imagine anyone, apart from those who prefer authoritarian bluster,* would be able to place themselves in his shoes and wonder what they would have done in similar circumstances.

But the action starts quickly, rapidly replacing character development as it accelerates, and even though the skyscraper itself (The Pearl) is incredibly cool and a lot of the action sequences stunning, in Die Hard, which also takes place in a multi-storey building, you have lead and supporting characters who become more and more diverse as a flawed hero tries to save lives.

Character development is worked into the action.

Skyscraper's characters are pretty stock good and evil, I'm sayin' it, they're interesting, but not exactly overflowing with complications, a feature of international action films on occasion.

And some of them bite it just as they're beginning to assert themselves.

Take Mr. Pierce's (Noah Taylor) character.

After lounging in the background, he suddenly appears to talk to Sawyer's wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) as she attempts to escape a raging fire, at which point I thought, "great, he lures her and her kids upstairs and they become hostages for the rest of the film. All of their characters are diversified as Mr. Sawyer then desperately tries to save them. That's super Die Hardesque in terms of minor roles taking on major responsibilities"

But no, shortly thereafter Pierce has fallen into the flames, his character development cut radically short, as is that of hacker genius Skinny Hacker (Matt O'Leary), bodyguard Ajani Okeke (Adrian Holmes) and vengeful friend of Sawyer Ben (Pablo Schreiber).

Die Hard's all about supporting roles.

I'm not sure if that's a standard feature of international action films.

It should be.

Sarah does escape and faces a Bellatrix Lestrangey villain later on, the brilliant charitable successful mom taking out both the effeminate man and the headstrong woman (Hannah Quinlivan as Xia) in the process.

Stock stock stock stock stock.^

Hokey even, even if I was happy to see Neve Campbell again. I kept thinking, "who's the new Neve Campbell?", until it became apparent that it was in fact Neve Campbell, whom I haven't seen in anything for years.

She was fantastic in Wild Things.

Perhaps Skyscraper's creators were trying to maximize both domestic and international profits by embracing an aesthetic that respectfully works within global boundaries to generate a stateless hybrid, which is a cooler way to proceed inasmuch as it realistically respects local cultures and may ensure huge profits both at home and abroad.

It's sort of like an entertaining Summer blockbuster that's heavy on cultural respect and has some cool action scenes that could have accommodated alternative gender roles much more sympathetically.

Until you introduce the Die Hard factor and its associated higher expectations.

You situate highly motivated well financed terrorists within a skyscraper and no matter what happens, you're going to be compared to Die Hard.

Die Hard, Skyscraper, is not

Where's the constant improvisation? The mistakes? The personality conflicts? The personality?

It's far too precise.

And visual distractions don't effect auditory senses.

Shaking my head.

Note: Skyscraper's still much better than Die Hard 5.

I'm so worried about Die Hard 6.

Argyle.

*Fictional comedy films featuring stubborn fools who succeed are funny. Real international political events that wind up seeming like comedy films are horrifying.

^It was unbelievably cool in The Deathly Hallows though. I'm almost in tears thinking about how I was in tears when I read that scene so many Summers ago.