Page 30 - ARUBA TODAY

A30 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 12 July 2018
In 'Skyscraper,' the Rock towers over action tropes

By JAKE COYLE for "The Pearl," a state-of-
Associated Press the-art skyscraper promot-
NEW YORK (AP) — I like to ed as three times the size
imagine what King Kong, as of the Empire State Build-
a popcorn-chomping mov- ing. With a swirling turbine
iegoer, might make of "Sky- midway up and a tennis
scraper," the latest summer ball-like sphere at the top,
actioner staring Dwayne it looks a little like a giant
Johnson. Would he, watch- World Cup trophy.
ing a goliath ascend the The building is the pride of
exterior of a high-rise with billionaire developer Zhao
helicopters and klieg lights Long Ji (Chin Han), who
swirling, woundedly mum- has filled it with extrava-
ble, "Hey, that's my gig." gant attractions, like a kind
But in Rawson Marshall of digital hall-of-mirrors that
Thurber's thriller, there is will inevitably serve as the
Johnson steadily — and setting for a "Lady From
without too much trou- Shanghai"-like shootout.
ble, really — swinging up He presides over it from the
a 100-story-high crane to penthouse, more than 100
then leap across a mam- floors above anyone else
moth chasm and land in an in the unfinished high rise.
open window on the burn- This image released by Universal Pictures shows Neve Campbell, left, and Dwayne Johnson in a The Singaporean star Han
ing 220-story tower where scene from "Skyscraper." is one of the many Asian
his wife and twin kids are Associated Press actors who populate the
trapped. It goes without film, clearly fashioned to
saying that if you're the sort sensible and realistic res- meets-East "Die Hard," but "I put my sword down," says appeal as much to Chi-
to scoff at a tale's implausi- cue methods. They go for without the gritty flair of Sawyer, who has a pros- nese filmgoers as American
bility, "Skyscraper" may not the dumb fun, the crazy John McTiernan's film, nor thetic leg from the incident ones, though their roles are
be the movie you're look- stunts and, above all, the anything like the villainous a welcome touch in a mov- largely peripheral.Sawyer's
ing for. Experts in fields in- Kong-sized appeal of John- heights of Alan Rickman's ie world where disabilities family is installed on floor
cluding physics, thermody- son, the towering movie Hans Gruber. Johnson's pro- are seldom represented. 96, a precarious spot when,
namics and screenwriting star whose on-screen pow- tagonist, too, is a polished Along with his former com- just below them, a band of
should proceed cautiously. ers easily exceed those of family man, the inverse of bat surgeon wife (the nice- terrorists led by Kores Botha
But then again, few go to any other action star to- Bruce Willis' unshaven di- to-see-again Neve Camp- (a ho-hum Roland Moller)
a movie starring the Rock day, superhero or not. vorcee. bell, whose part exceeds sets a floor on fire, blazing
and a tall building (they do The Hong Kong-set "Sky- Johnson plays Will Sawyer, the stereotypical spouse a crimson line across the
have great chemistry) for scraper" is a kind of West- a former military man who, role) and their two kids night skyline. ("Skyscraper"
after a haunting hostage (McKenna Roberts, Noah is lensed by Robert Elswit
encounter, has become a Cottrell), Sawyer is in Hong and it regularly looks better
security systems consultant. Kong to ready the security than you'd expect it to.)q

Original Winnie-the-Pooh map breaks

auction record

Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — The origi-
nal hand-drawn map of
Winnie-the-Pooh's Hun-
dred Acre Woods has
sold at auction for 430,000
pounds ($571,000), a re-
cord price for a book il-
lustration. E.H. Shepard's
drawing sold at Sotheby's
in London on Tuesday for
almost three-times its pre-
sale estimate.
Shepard's 1926 sketch
features beloved char-
acters including Pooh In this photo dated May 31, 2018, Philip W. Errington holds the
and Christopher Robin, original map of Winnie-the-Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood by E
and landmarks including H Shepard. Associated Press
"Bee Tree" and "Eeyore's
Gloomy Place." of very little brain" and his pounds.
It was last sold in 1970 for woodland friends. The map and four other
1,700 pounds. In 2014, an ink drawing Shepard Winnie-the-Pooh
Shepard's illustrations of the characters playing illustrations sold for a total
helped cement the popu- the game poohsticks sold of 917,500 pounds at Tues-
larity of A.A. Milne's "bear for a then-record 314,500 day's auction.q