Film reviews: Skyscraper, Incredibles 2 and First Reformed

Skyscraper, 3/5

A similar phenomenon seems to be playing out with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The hulking former wrestler is pretty big everywhere but he’s inexplicably massive in Communist China.

“I’m extremely grateful to the people of China for embracing me and my films the way they have over the years,” Johnson wrote on Instagram after millions turned out to watch him knock lumps out of skyscraper-smashing monsters in his last film.

Like Rampage (which made most of its money in Asia), I suspect Skyscraper was made with at least one eye on the world’s fastest-growing movie market.

This is the Johnson his Chinese fans know and love; a noble, stoic, self-sacrificing man of action who has no time for power-crazed villains and no truck with the laws of physics.

Johnson plays Will Sawyer, a one-legged, former FBI agent now considered one of the foremost security advisers on the planet.

In Hong Kong he is consulting on The Pearl, a new skyscraper (do the Chinese have a thing for big buildings?) destined to be the tallest in history.

Billionaire developer Zhao Long Ji (Chin Han) also believes it could be the “safest super-tall structure” in the world.

Those words come back to haunt him when the villainous Kores Botha (Roland Moller) unleashes a cunning plan that involves setting the building ablaze.

Best not to ask the whys or wherefores. Can Will save the building? The fact that his wife Sarah (Neve Campbell) and children are trapped inside might just focus his mind.

Did I mention that a previous incident has left him with a prosthetic leg? Not that that seems to matter from the way he hares about and plays the action hero.

Thankfully, there’s no time to mull over the plot holes as Johnson throws himself into a string of jaw-dropping, crowd-pleasing, action sequences.

Of course western eyes have seen this all before in Bruce Willis’s Die Hard, Steven Seagal’s Under Siege and Gerard Butler’s Has Fallen series.

You may wish for a little more flair and a lot more originality but Skyscraper isn’t trying to re-invent the wheel.

It’s a big, brash, joyfully preposterous summer blockbuster. Perhaps all fans of cheesy action films should send gushing messages to “CHINA”? Without Johnson and the Chinese, I’m not sure many Die Hard rip-offs would get made for $125million.

Incredibles 2, 4/5

It is 14 years since we last saw the Parrs, but the superpowered family don’t seem to have aged a day. Incredibles 2 begins where the original film left off, with evil The Underminer (voiced by John Ratzenberger) tearing through the city of Metroville inside a gigantic underground drill.

The hi-jinks that follow are a neat way to re-introduce us to the otherwise-normal family – Mr Incredible/Bob (Craig T Nelson), Elastigirl/Helen (Holly Hunter) and their children Violet (Sarah Vowell), Dash (Huck Milner) and baby Jack-Jack (Eli Fucile).

The giant daredevil seems to constantly defy gravity as he dangles from a crumbling ledge or performs a ludicrously unlikely leap from a lofty height to an open window.

But it turns out their heroics aren’t appreciated by the powers-that-be. After totting up the damage done to municipal property during their foiling of The Underminer, all superheroes are outlawed.

Help arrives in the form of telecoms company mogul Winston Deavor (Bob Odenkirk) and his tech-whizz sister Evelyn (Catherine Keener) who convince the Parrs that a little PR spin will change the politicians’ minds.

A clever touch is that they only want Elastigirl for their new publicity campaign.

They kit her up with a new bendy superbike and a moody grey and black suit then pack her off to take on the villainous Screenslaver (Bill Wise).

In-suit cameras will beam the action to the viewing public and while the film follows her high octane adventures, it also cuts to scenes showing Mr Incredible trying to run the house.

This requires the hulking ex-crimefighter to flex some new muscles. Violet has got boyfriend problems, Dash faces a difficult maths assignment and the baby is suffering from a superhero’s version of teething troubles.

Elastigirl’s attempt to stop a runaway train is the most exciting part of the film but a delightful sequence where Jack-Jack discovers his own powers while fighting a raccoon is the most memorable.

The familiar plot – and its very predictable twist – is a lot less special. Cinemas are now awash with Spandex and what felt fresh in 2004 is now feeling a little stale.

But never underestimate Pixar’s superpowers. In the end, gorgeous animation, great voice acting and a witty script really do save the day.

First Reformed, 4/5

Paul Schrader, the screenwriter who gave us Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and American Gigolo, offers far quieter pleasures in First Reformed. In this beautifully written drama, which he also directs, Ethan Hawke plays Ernst Toller, the troubled pastor of the historic First Reformed Church of Snowbridge, New York.

As most of the congregation now attend the nearby megachurch, his job is more about ferrying tourists around the gift shop than saving souls.

But his spirit is stirred when a pregnant woman called Mary (Amanda Seyfried) asks him to counsel her husband Michael.

He is a fervent environmentalist who believes the world is beyond repair and as a life of misery awaits his unborn child, he wants Mary to have an abortion.

The pastor argues for hope but he can’t disagree with the scientific evidence.

When he combines Michael’s statistics with the Book of Revelations, this gentle man of the cloth begins to resemble Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle in a dog collar.

The ending will prove divisive but the dialogue sparkles, the atmosphere is brooding and Hawke chips in with the best performance of his career.