Trope Tower
I knew what to expect from this movie, just as you know what to expect before even reading this review. My initial thoughts were first gathered during the first ever trailer for this movie explaining the premise. Then the massive amount of advertising spread everywhere and it was hard to miss. Then, I don’t know if everyone saw it but I witnessed what felt like a four-minute trailer that pretty much explained the whole movie from start to finish. Does being able to present a whole film in four minutes diminish the films quality/ enjoyment? Well in regards to quality, it was still a high budget movie no matter what the trailers show. Enjoyment? Well, that’s another thing. I don’t think the trailer should’ve shown what it did but I can tell you for damn sure that it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment. For good or bad.
The basic storyline is The Rocks character gets the chance to inspect a giant skyscraper in Hong Kong to help the billionaire owner insure it and while he’s there with his family all hell breaks loose. There isn’t much else and there doesn’t need to be.
I don’t think this review will be that long, it doesn’t need to be. Is this movie full of tropes? Yes, and they don’t shy away from it. Ex-soldier, asthmatic kids, a strong wife, one in a lifetime deal, a rich man with secrets, international spies, European hacker in civilian clothing and sassy strong femme fatale. You name it, this movie has it but you know what else this movie has? Self-awareness and that’s something I think a movie like this needs. With self-awareness comes a sense of levity and understanding of what the movie itself is about and that’s, having a good time and deep down I think that’s what I had while watching it. There were times of intense action that actually looked pretty decent and had me on the edge of my seat but there were also scenes of such absurdity there was laughter in the cinema and not even at the “comedic” parts.
The film was equally as good as it was bad. That’s not bad in a negative sense but bad as in, not good. Its hard to explain but if you’ve seen movies like Fast and Furious, Rampage, and anything of the sort, then you would surely understand what I mean. There were parts that were dumb but the whole premise was a little dumb, so how bad can it really be? And if you went and saw this on purpose I’m sure you’ll enjoy it no matter what. It knows what it is, and it is The Rock Vs a skyscraper.