Wealthy Chinese financier and entrepreneur Zhao Long Ji has funded the construction of the world’s tallest skyscraper in Hong Kong, standing at 3,500 feet (1,100 m) and 225 stories tall, which they call “The Pearl”. Although the building is structurally complete, the construction process has not been without complications and the residential upper half of the building has yet to be opened to the public.
U.S. Marine war veteran and retired FBI Hostage Rescue Team leader, Will Sawyer, now assesses security for skyscrapers. A suicide explosion from his last mission has left him one leg amputated below the knee. He is fitted with a modern prosthetic leg, which keeps him fully mobile. Sawyer is tasked with inspecting the Pearl, and his family – wife, Sarah, and twin children, Georgia and Henry, move into the building.
Sawyer confirms to Zhao, security directors, Ajani Okeke and Sawyer’s friend and fellow ex-FBI agent, Ben Gillespie, and insurance executive Mr. Pierce, that the building’s fire and security systems are secure, but he still needs to inspect the off-site security center that controls the system. Zhao then hands Sawyer a tablet computer that gives full administrative access to The Pearl’s computer systems, which can only be unlocked by facial recognition.
Skyscraper is a 2018 American action film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber, and starring Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Noah Taylor, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber and Hannah Quinlivan. The film follows Johnson as a former FBI agent who must rescue his family from a newly built skyscraper, the tallest in the world, after it is taken over by criminals and set on fire. The first non-comedy of Thurber’s career, it also marks his second collaboration with Johnson, following Central Intelligence (2016).
Filming began in September 2017 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The film was released in the United States by Universal Pictures on July 13, 2018, in 2D and Real D 3D, and has grossed over $304 million worldwide against its production budget of $125 million. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Johnson’s performance and the film’s suspenseful scenes, but criticized the script as clichéd and too similar to The Towering Inferno and Die Hard.
Skyscraper (2018)
Directed by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Neve Campbell, Chin Han, Roland Møller, Noah Taylor, Byron Mann, Pablo Schreiber, McKenna Roberts, Hannah Quinlivan, Gretal Montgomery, Elfina Luk, Adrian Holmes
Screenplay by: Rawson Marshall Thurber
Production Design by: Jim Bissell
Cinematography by: Robert Elswit
Film Editing by: Julian Clarke, Michael L. Sale
Costume Design by: Ann Foley, Luca Mosca
Set Decoration by: William DeBiasio, Lin MacDonald
Art Direction by: Craig Humphries, Helen Jarvis, Cheryl Marion, Grant Van Der Slagt
Music by: Steve Jablonsky
Distributed by: Universal Pictures
Release Date: July 13, 2018
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