A real firefighter analyzes Dwayne Johnson’s action scenes from Skyscraper, awarding them a grade for their accuracy. Released in 2018, Skyscraper is directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber with Johnson starring as Will Sawyer, a security expert who attempts to rescue his family from a burning high-rise building. The film, which received mixed reviews, features a handful of big action sequences, including a moment in which Johnson’s character infiltrates the titular skyscraper by jumping from a crane.
In a recent video for Insider, firefighter Anthony Martinez breaks down two scenes from Skyscraper, including Johnson’s crane leap and another scene involving an elevator.
According to Martinez, Johnson’s crane jump to Skyscraper’s The Pearl building is unsurprisingly not accurate to how firefighters would enter a burning high-rise, and the firefighter uses the elevator scene to share some important fire advice. Check out his comments below, as well as his score for the movie out of 10:
“We would never do that. We actually do utilize moving from one building to another, as far as if it’s a low-rise multiple dwelling or another building that’s adjacent to it, but never on a high-rise, not the way he’s going to do it.
“If you cut off all the safety features on an elevator, they can definitely ride through a fire like that. But there are so many safeguards for elevators. When an actual cable does break, and it’s on its descent, or even when it’s going up, those brakes will automatically lock. As a civilian, you never should use an elevator during a fire. You want to use the stairs and actually descend away from the fire. When an active fire does happen, the outside vent firefighters will take over the elevators and recall them down to the lobby floor.
“ I would give this scene a 4. ” Did Skyscraper’s Inaccuracies Hurt The Movie?
The Dwayne Johnson Vehicle Wasn’t A Big Hit
The initial trailers for Skyscraper teased a gritty, Die Hard-like adventure. They also, however, highlighted Johnson’s crane jump, affirming that it wouldn’t be overly grounded and that it would feature some far-fetched moments. The Skyscraper reviews were mixed at best, but it’s not the film’s realism that was the main problem. Ultimately, the movie just felt too familiar and by-the-numbers, and this poor response resulted in a lackluster 48% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Skyscraper fared better with general audiences, however, and boasts a more respectable 68% audience score. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to make the film a box office hit. Skyscraper was a considerable flop at the domestic box office, but decent international numbers eventually got the film to $304.9 million worldwide. With a budget of $125 million plus millions more in press and advertising, the movie was probably looking at a break-even point of roughly $312 million. It’s possible that Skyscraper eventually became profitable due to digital rental and sales, however.
Skyscraper’s realism issues are almost certainly not responsible for its box office underperformance. Rampage, for example, another action movie starring Johnson about animals becoming massive versions of themselves and wreaking havoc on Chicago, ended up faring quite well at the box office despite the ridiculousness of its premise. If anything, Skyscraper perhaps seemed too tame and too serious as Johnson movies go, and it could have benefited from a little more silliness.
