Known for his noteworthy films as Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), We’re the Millers (2013) etc, Rawson Marshall Thurber has collaborated with ‘The Rock’, Dwayne Johnson for a 2nd time after Central Intelligence (2016) in this in which a former FBI agent is forced to face the herculean task of rescuing his family from a newly built Skyscraper, the tallest in the world which is taken over by criminals and set on fire!
Set on the lines of Towering Inferno & Die Hard, the screenplay has been set against the backdrop of a huge high-rise construction standing at 3,500 feet (1,100 m) and 225 stories tall, a high level Asian financier has financed the construction of the world’s tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, called as The Pearl! Kores Botha (Roland Moller), an international terrorist kingpin, decide to use their control of construction crews working on the skyscraper to extort millions of dollars in shakedown payments for preventing a massive strike of construction workers with a view to halt its progress! Meanwhile, a former FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader and U.S. war veteran, Will Sawyer (Dwayne Johnson), now assesses security for skyscrapers. Although having one leg amputated from the knee down from a previous mission, he is fitted with a modern prosthetic leg, which keeps his full mobility. Botha and his team of mercenaries ignite the 96th floor of the building, blocking access to all higher floors and knocking out the computer controlled advanced fire extinguishing hardware meticulously constructed throughout the Skyscraper. Using security information on a tablet they had previously stolen from Sawyer, the terrorists frame Sawyer as the chief culprit of the sabotage to misdirect the police. Sawyer, knowing that his family is trapped on the floors directly above the blazing fire, breaks free from the police and begins his ascent of the building to save his wife, Sarah (Neve Campbell), and their two children Georgia (Mc Kenna Roberts) and Henry (Noah Cottrell).
The architectural rendering of the 225-story tall skyscraper was based on Chinese inspirations, it is learnt.
CREDITS
Music-Steve Jablonsky; Cinematography-Robert Elswit
Hansa Pictures Release