Somehow someone settled on the title ‘Skyscraper’ for this new action film starring Dwayne Johnson. After watching, I think a better title may have been ‘101 Ways to Best Use Duct Tape.’ At no time ever has an action film had its star running around trying to be the hero with almost nothing at his disposal except for this ‘strong, cloth-backed, waterproof, pressure sensitive, adhesive, miracle-working cure-all. But writer/director Rawson Marshall Thurber does and it sorta works believe it or not. Maybe an even better title would be ‘101 Uses for Duct Tape-Towering Inferno Dies Hard.’ I might sound as if I’m being a little harsh with the comparisons to earlier films, ‘The Towering Inferno’ with Paul Newman and ‘Die Hard’ with Bruce Willis but I assure you if you’ve seen them, you’ll do the same. ‘Skyscraper’ is that predictable. I did enjoy the excitement and taking the journey but as almost anyone who has seen a big budget action thriller will say, the script was hardly original.

Instead of a police officer from New York running around inside a building in L.A. trying to stop German bad guys from making a profitable getaway in a giant high rise where his wife is held hostage, we have Scandinavian bad guys doing almost the same thing. However, our hero is Will Sawyer (Johnson), an ex-FBI agent who is also from America but this time the building is in Hong Kong. There are other similarities, but you get the picture. ‘The Towering Inferno’ references are obvious without my having to mention them, I’m sure. Oh, I have to mention that the end of ‘Rocky’ is in there, too, but you’ll catch that without my having to point it out to you.

After tragedy strikes in his past, Will becomes an independent security consultant working from home. He’s delighted to get a chance to work in the largest building in the world ‘The Pearl’ in Hong Kong, through an old friend who gets him the job. His job is to make sure the building is 100% secure and ready to be insured so that the giant residential section can now be opened to the public. This building is immense, beautiful and boasts all the possible amenities a high-tech building could have and all the updates. The units will sell quickly. Its eccentric builder and owner loves his building so much that he lives in the penthouse. Until his task is done, Will, with family in tow, are the only people presently staying in the building until his job is completed.

Neve Campbell plays his wife, Sarah, who’s ex-military. She is both mentally and physically strong. You’ll like her, particularly toward the end of the film where she gets to land a good swift kick to an irritatingly absurd character; but their children are not at all realistic. They are way too calm in the ‘heat of the moment’ so to speak. If I’m a little kid and I’m faced with burning to death or falling to my death, I’m not going to be calmly, statically asking mommy if I was going to die. I’d be screaming bloody murder!! Maybe you don’t want to go too realistic with it but c’mon! A little emotion would have been nice to sell SOME panic in SOMEONE!

Villains take over the building and, wanting something from the owner, set it on fire. They will get what they want this way, right? Seeing the chaos at The Pearl and getting set up as the guy who started it, Will must get in to save his family. Not a challenge for Johnson! Nah. He scurries up a construction crane, a blood pressure raising scene, by the way, and gets himself inside. Every movie he makes is live streamed to the public and is being watched by a crowd who has gathered below. Based on what they see, they’ve deemed him someone innocent of charges being thrown about on the news and worthy of getting through this whole mess he’s in, so they cheer his every successful move; each of which is mostly predictable had it not been for one thing… that duct tape! I’d fill you in more but would prefer you discover what he’s doing with it on your own. It’s better this way. Trust me.

‘Skyscraper’ is Dwayne Johnson in an action flick. Awesome! The poster is good and the trailer is good so, we’re all going to go see it. No matter what you hear, despite your best judgment, Rotten Tomatoes rating aside, you’re gonna go see it because… why not? It has everything an action film needs. Great CG and visual effect, strong characters that you want to see do well, provocative, albeit somewhat weak, story (despite its glaring references to other pictures) and most importantly, the suspension of disbelief. You’ll lose yourself in the film for a little while and isn’t that the whole reason to go see a movie like this? It’s nothing new but you’ll have fun. Go so seeing this one on the big screen this weekend. It’s the way to go with this type of movie.

The definition of the word Sicario is a hired gunman or assassin, esp. in Latin America. The film ‘Sicario,’ starring Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin and Benicio Del Toro was an incredibly powerful and violent film that took audiences by surprise. Director Denis Villeneuve, who went on to direct ‘Arrival’ and ‘Blade Runner: 2049’ didn’t direct ‘Sicario: Day of the Solado,’ which may be surprising to learn when you consider the fact that it was nominated for three Oscars. That said, it was instead directed by Stefano Sollima, who very much did carry on the dark brutality that both stories, written by Taylor Sheridan, who wrote ‘Wind River’ and ‘Hell or High Water,’ required. Not pulling punches, Sollima moves the second tale of the franchise, not quite a sequel but more of an offshoot, at an electric pace.

The film starts by showing a group of individuals being smuggled over the U.S. border from Mexico. This has turned into a substantial for-profit business for the Mexican Cartel as many of them are terrorists willing to pay big dollars. Rather than be caught, these men are prepared to and do blow themselves up if cornered. Pivotal to what’s going on in American politics today, several do the deed in a store. The last one alive is about to take his life for the cause and consequently end the lives of everyone around him, is confronted by a white woman as she begs for him to spare her and her child… thus the theme of the narrative materializes. The comparisons to today can’t be ignored.

The U.S. Secretary of Defense (Modine) hires government agent Matt Graver (Brolin) to help them seal Mexico off and make it appear as necessary to do so as possible. They want to stop the Mexican cartels once and for all. As unscrupulous and underhanded as he is, he suggests getting dirty and to make it appear as if one of the other cartels initiates the fight by attacking the other. He tells them they’re going to have to ‘kidnap a prince’ and explains that the king will start the war for you. He hires the unforgiving Alejandro (Del Toro) to help him kidnap rich, spoiled Isabela Reyes (Moner) the teenage daughter of the notorious cartel leader, Carlos Reyes. They stage everything to look like a rival gang of her fathers has her by allowing her to see pertinent information so she can relay it all back to her father. After, they set in motion a rescue. However, nothing ever goes as planned.
Day of the Solado, a word that means soldier, explores what it means to be a soldier, which is an enforcer of the rules he’s lead by, and what it means to be a man with a conscience. When Alejandro finds himself having to choose between the two, a second story emerges and helps rounds out the reasons for shootouts and the action and criminal element of the film and the more political motivation of the script.

Isabela Reyes is a character you’ll grow to abhor less as the movie winds down. Isabela Moner is an actress you’ll grow to adore as she does a fantastic job giving you what her director asks of her, but the script could have been a little more pointed as to what is expected from its audience. In fact, all the characters were hard for you to read, except for one and that’s Cynthia Foards. Played by Catherine Keener, Foards is a badass who isn’t in touch with her feelings and doesn’t care about yours, especially when it comes time to order a scene to be cleaned.

Even though it’s nothing like ‘Sicario,’ the acting in ‘Sicario: Day of the Solado’ is reason enough to see the second chapter. Oddly, it doesn’t necessarily matter which order you see them in but if you’re a fan of the genre, see them both. Also, you might be happy to learn there is a plan for number three. How it’s presented in the film will definitely leave you scratching your head… but in a good way, I promise.