Starring: Dwayne Johnson, and Neve Campbell. Also, Chin Han, Roland Moller, and Pablo Schreiber
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Runtime: 102 mins. Reviewed in Jul 2018
| 
| 
This American action-disaster movie tells the story of an ex-FBI team leader who finds himself framed for a terrorist attack on “the tallest building in the world”. This is not the first movie with this title, and it is influenced by “The Towering Inferno” (1974) which showed a high rise building on fire in San Francisco. Dwayne Johnson takes the lead role – he is best known for his portrayal of Luke Hobbs in the “Fast and Furious” franchise, and he voiced the character of Maui in the movie, “Moana” (2016).
In this movie, Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson) loses his leg in a wartime rescue mission which goes wrong. He subsequently becomes the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team Leader, and later heads up a small company working in Hong Kong. Permanently disabled, and retired from the army, Will’s expertise lies in knowledgeably assessing the security of especially high buildings. He sets up home for his wife, Sarah (Neve Campbell) and their two children, and they become the first residents in the tallest and “safest” skyscraper in Hong Kong (called “The Pearl”). When he is pulled in to evaluate the security installations of the towering skyscraper, the terrorists attack, a disastrous fire breaks out, and the building goes up in flames.
Will knows everything there is to know about any building’s vulnerability, and whether a building is impenetrable, but when The Pearl is attacked by terrorists, he is framed for the attack and blamed for setting the building on fire. His first thoughts are to rescue his wife and family who are trapped high up above the 96th. floor. The plot line has him trying to clear his name while on the run from the police, finding out who is responsible for the terrorist attack, and rescuing his family from the blazing inferno.
The film is action-packed, and most of the action takes place high in the building which forms the movie’s major set piece. The building is an especially imposing structure with a stunning futuristic look in architecture. It reaches high into the sky, dominates the buildings around it, and symbolises America’s sophisticated modernity. It is the most technologically advanced structure of its kind in the world, we are told, and an attack on it is an attack on American supremacy and advanced technological know-how.
Apart from its symbolic nature, the building provides the perfect background for heroic display. One particular scene illustrates it very dramatically. Will is shown leaping – with his prosthetic leg – from the edge of a huge crane into an open window of the building in flames. It is an incredible stunt sequence. It looks impossible, but in action movies like this, the viewer knows not to ask that type of question. The cinematography maintains the tension non-stop, as the building implodes again and again at its different levels. The film impressively uses long shots of the building, with flames leaping upwards to light up Hong Kong’s night sky.
In most disaster movies, the threat is all-pervasive, as hordes of people flee from what is occurring around them. This disaster movie, however, manages to maintain an emphasis on the character of Will Sawyer. Demonstration of his heroism is as important as its special effects. Will saves his family from the fire, and rescues his reputation as a war veteran. In between heroic acts, his character as a caring husband and father is put to the test, and he endures. Dwayne Johnson athletically plays the hero in action, and Neve Campbell ably plays his supportive wife.
This is a disaster movie with a never-ending sense of adventure lying at its core, and it has some spectacularly impressive special-effects. While unsuitable for family viewing because of the action-violence it shows, it carries worthy messages of family commitment and togetherness. People, however, with a fear of very high places might be well-advised to stay at home. The movie trades imposingly, and very cleverly, on that fear in whatever way it can.
Peter W. Sheehan is Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting
12 Random Films…
