Skyscraper
Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 13, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
51
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 43 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
26
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisJul 11, 2018
There are intermittent pleasures, including Ms. Campbell, who seems ready to transition to a new career phase playing hard-hitting maternal types with Mona Lisa smiles. Mostly, though, Skyscraper is about the movie’s other, far more towering figure: Mr. Johnson, a performer whose colossal physicality is strikingly complemented by a delicate expressivity too rarely seen in contemporary blockbusters. Read full review
60
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 10, 2018
Rawson Marshall Thurber's Skyscraper is one of the most idiotic action movies to come down the pike in some time. It's also a lot of fun if you're willing to go with it, and getting viewers to go with things is one of several fronts on which The Rock routinely earns the money he gets paid. Read full review
60
The GuardianBenjamin LeeJul 10, 2018
This is stupid but it’s also mostly entertaining, thanks to Johnson and a plot that moves fast enough to retain our attention yet without enough, ahem, the originality to ensure it lingers in our minds once the fire has been extinguished. Read full review
58
The Film StageJared MobarakJul 16, 2018
No matter how hokey or neatly cyclical things get, Johnson excels. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyJul 11, 2018
It feels like a dumbed-down, poor man’s "Die Hard," despite costing a lot more to make. Read full review
50
SlateSam AdamsJul 19, 2018
Skyscraper is like the last stage of a national trauma, the weakened form it takes before it passes out of the body politic for good. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJul 15, 2018
It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming. Read full review
50
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJul 12, 2018
Johnson is his usual amiable self, but the best thing about the movie is Campbell. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTy BurrJul 12, 2018
You’ve seen almost all of this before, with more wit and a better villain. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 12, 2018
It’s slow getting off the ground, and never completely achieves flight, at least not in the sense of transport. It remains a series of sequences, some terrific and some less so, but at least the movie keeps finding new ways for people to fall off a building while on fire. So there’s that. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonJul 12, 2018
Skyscraper clearly aspires to be a 21st-century update of “Die Hard” (1988), one of the best action thrillers ever made. Instead, it’s just another film that squanders the movie-star charisma of Johnson, who should consider lending his box-office clout to more worthy projects. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJul 12, 2018
We’re not supposed to think about a movie like Skyscraper. This is superficial summer popcorn fare, given a PG-13 because when innocents are mowed down, the camera lingers on the smugly smiling sociopathic villains, not the carnage. Read full review
50
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldJul 12, 2018
Skyscraper, which lacks the lunkheaded charm of “Rampage,” isn’t the ideal vehicle — its special effects are murky (I saw it in 2D; it’s probably even muddier in 3D), and a bit of wit wouldn’t have been unwelcome. Nobody in this film has a personality; they’re just evil, stoic, mildly badass (particularly Neve Campbell, as Will’s resourceful wife) or The Rock. Read full review
50
Philadelphia Daily NewsGary ThompsonJul 12, 2018
OK, so it’s ridiculous, but slightly ridiculous action movies are Johnson’s brand (they’re actually making a sequel to San Andreas), and what fans want in the context of that silliness are reasonably competent action and suspense. Read full review
50
VoxAlissa WilkinsonJul 12, 2018
The big difference between this kind of video game movie and an actual video game is that you’re not playing it — you’re just passively consuming it, and you know how it will end before it gets going. So any surprise or intrigue comes from just seeing how our mighty protagonist will get himself out of this scrape. That’s just enough for a couple hours of fairly mindless entertainment. Read full review
50
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 11, 2018
There are few surprises delivered in Skyscraper, an entertaining if middlebrow thriller whose very name — blandly descriptive, generic — seems to advertise its fungibility. Read full review
50
Rolling StoneDavid FearJul 11, 2018
What you get is, regrettably and rather surprisingly, something that’s a lot less exciting than the sum of those particular parts. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshJul 11, 2018
Skyscraper — a sort of reverse "Die Hard," where a family man breaks into an imposing structure to save his family — scoots by on the thinnest of premises, and an even thinner script. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreJul 10, 2018
But for a guy with all these comedy credits, Thurber (and his by-the-numbers star) fail to give the spark of sarcastic life to this version of John “Die Hard” McClain. The script gives Will one half-funny aside, and a single funny line. Read full review
50
ScreenCrushMatt SingerJul 10, 2018
Skyscraper downplays one of the main reasons we go to see an action movie starring The Rock. As a result, our beloved pro wrestler turned movie star feels a little miscast, even as he gets to once again assume his favorite role as the ultimate superdad. Read full review
50
Screen DailyTim GriersonJul 10, 2018
Anyone expecting a shred of originality from this Dwayne Johnson vehicle will be disappointed, but writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber tries his best to compensate by amping up the over-the-top spectacle, hoping sheer gusto will keep viewers from minding his film’s shaky foundation. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyJul 10, 2018
No one churns out big-budget action mediocrity these days as regularly as Dwayne Johnson. So now, just three months after his giant gorilla-a-go-go Rampage, we have Skyscraper — a film that suggests what would happen if you took The Towering Inferno and Die Hard and stripped them of the qualities that made both work. Read full review
42
IndieWireEric KohnJul 10, 2018
Skyscraper plays out like a metaphor for diminishing returns — Johnson keeps climbing, higher and higher, until there’s nowhere left to go but down. Read full review
40
EmpireDan JolinJul 16, 2018
The building may be taller than The Towering Inferno and the stakes may be higher than those faced by John McClane in Die Hard, but in comparison to both, Skyscraper is little more than a cinematic bungalow. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleJul 11, 2018
In the end, it’s hard to rule out any Johnson movie entirely, but Skyscraper is more disappointment than summer sleeper. Read full review
40
UproxxMike RyanJul 10, 2018
The biggest problem with Skyscraper is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull. Read full review
More From This Movie

51 Critic Reviews

5.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL