{"id":11549,"date":"2025-03-26T23:48:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T03:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=11549"},"modified":"2025-03-26T23:48:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T03:48:29","slug":"skyscraper-1996","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/03\/26\/skyscraper-1996\/","title":{"rendered":"Skyscraper (1996)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Skyscraper<\/strong> (1996)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PM Entertainment Group\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong action violence, sex scenes, nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Raymond Martino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: William Applegate Jr. and Joseph John Barmettler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jim Halfpenny\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Frank Harris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 24, 1996 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Anna Nicole Smith, Richard Steinmetz, Branko Cikatic, Calvin Levels, Jonathan Fuller, Lee de Broux, Deirdre Imershein, Charles Huber, Deron McBee, Vincent DePalma, Alan Brooks, Gary Imhoff, Bob McCracken, Eugene Robert Glazer, Seth Isler, Michael Chinyamurindi, Clay Banks, Robert Kerbeck, Tina Arning, Paul Eiding, Michael Spound, Jefferson Wagner, Floyd Levine, Randall England, Christopher Boyer, Daniel Wayne Smith.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: N\/A<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0For many, the mention of an action movie named Skyscraper<\/strong> brings to mind the 2018 Dwayne Johnson vehicle. Mention it to me and my mind immediately goes to the direct-to-video cheapie starring Anna Nicole Smith, Playboy\u2019s 1993 Playmate of the Year. The generously endowed, baby-voiced model\/non-actress assumes action heroine mode in this goofy Die Hard knock-off that\u2019s infinitely more entertaining than the last installment of the series, the one where Bruce Willis goes to Russia. It was just lazy. That\u2019s something you can\u2019t say about Skyscraper<\/strong>. It\u2019s full of action, excitement, thrills and unintentional laughs. If anything, it works overtime in its efforts to entertain.<\/p>\n

\u00a0You must think I\u2019m nuts awarding something like Skyscraper<\/strong> three and a half stars. I am, but that\u2019s a story for another time that will never come. The reason it gets such a high rating is because it\u2019s so gloriously, uproariously bad. From Smith\u2019s laughable attempts at acting to the script that has to be cribbed from the outline for Die Hard, it\u2019s the kind of film you watch with a big dopey smile. Surely the makers can\u2019t be serious, can they? I think they are, but it\u2019s hard to tell. Uh huh, it\u2019s that kind of movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Smith plays a heli-taxi pilot named Carrie Wink. She provides airborne transport to high-end clients. It\u2019s a hell of a lot easier than trying to maneuver through L.A. ground traffic, I guess. In the opening, she drops a couple of shady-looking guys off on a helipad on the roof of a skyscraper. They\u2019re on their way to meet with government agents in an alleyway. It\u2019s a routine exchange, a briefcase filled with money for some electronic doodad that could \u201caffect the balance of power on the planet\u201d. Suddenly, they\u2019re ambushed by a third party who also wants the doodad. Did nobody notice the black-clad guy climbing down the fire escape with a rocket launcher? All hell breaks loose. People get shot with automatic weapons and cars get blown up including the one that tries to get away by crashing through a Bud Dry truck in reverse. One guy emerges from the fiery wreckage and heads straight for a rooftop with the doodad in his possession. He\u2019s confronted by the film\u2019s main villain Fairfax (Huber, Enemy Mine) who quotes Shakespeare before shooting him off the ledge and relieving him of the hotly desired gadget. WOW! What a way to start!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Skyscraper<\/strong> then traverses into Skinemax territory with Carrie taking a long hot shower in her apartment. LOL! The movie wastes no time in allowing Smith to display her two best assets. Her husband Gordon (Steinmetz, Liquid Dreams), a detective with the LAPD, joins her. They end up in bed for a love-making session more befitting a softcore film than an action flick. Then they have a conversation in which a pouty Carrie expresses her desire to procreate. He\u2019s against it due to their conflicting work schedules. Understandably upset (all but stamping her foot), she says, \u201cWell, excuse me for still believing in Sunday walks in the park, and little babies!\u201d The argument is cut short when Gordon receives word (via a pager) to report to the scene of the alley battle.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Here\u2019s the deal. This guy Fairfax is attempting to collect four parts of some device that could cause some major damage in the wrong hands, those wrong hands belonging to Fairfax. He manages to get two and three at the low, low cost of a few lives (i.e. security guards and a scumbag seller). For the fourth and final component, he has to go to the Zitex building in downtown L.A. Carrie happens to be his ride for the day. She takes him and his colleague\/computer hacker Jacques (Fuller, Bloodfist VI) to Zitex. That\u2019s when the proverbial s*** hits the fan.<\/p>\n

\u00a0For reasons I don\u2019t fully understand, Fairfax has a team of terrorists take over the building while he conducts what\u2019s supposed to be the final transaction. It, of course, goes south. There\u2019s a shootout during which the seller (Glazer, Intruder) escapes with the part. He runs into Carrie who came in to use the phone. The terrorists aren\u2019t far behind. She gets him to the roof where he tells her to take the briefcase and hide it. Fairfax, after finishing off the guy, sends his men to retrieve his purloined property. When one of them corners her, she goes into John McClane mode. She jumps onto a scaffold where she rigs herself with window washer cable before jumping again. While swinging through the air, she kicks in a window and gets inside detaching herself just seconds before the heavy winch nearly pulls her out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Meanwhile, Gordon and his partner Jimmy (Dial, L.A. Heat) are called to the scene of the second \u201ctransaction\u201d. While trying to apprehend the baddies, one of them (Levels, Adventures in Babysitting) fires a rocket at their car sending Jimmy to his fiery death (\u201cJIMMY!!!!!\u201d). Now Gordon is driven by revenge.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Back at Zitex, Carrie tries to avoid being captured by the terrorists while also looking for a way to end the siege. She might be a dumb blonde, but she\u2019s not helpless. She was raised in Texas which means she knows how to use a gun. We learn this bit of info in a flashback depicting Gordon attempting to teach her how to shoot only to find out…. well, you know. This is followed by another love-making session which is really just an excuse for Smith to show off her assets again. I\u2019m sorry, but I have to say it. DAMN, THEY\u2019RE HUGE!!!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Against my better judgment, I thoroughly enjoyed Skyscraper<\/strong>, a production of PM Entertainment Group, a big name in DTV entertainment. Their distinguished list of credits includes such gems as L.A. Heat (1989), The Art of Dying (1991), Quiet Fire (1991), Ring of Fire (1991), Final Impact (1992), CIA Code Name Alexa (1992), Alien Intruder (1993) and To the Limit (1995) also starring Smith. I haven\u2019t seen too many of their titles, but I aim to rectify that this year. I saw Skyscraper<\/strong> once before in \u201997, but it didn\u2019t leave any lasting impression. I decided to give it a rewatch after watching the latest Die Hard rip-off, the British actioner Cleaner with Daisy Ridley. What a cool double feature!<\/p>\n

\u00a0It goes without saying that Smith can\u2019t act to save her life. She\u2019s all looks and no talent. She\u2019s not at all convincing as an action heroine. Her hand-to-hand fight with Fairfax in the climax is obviously faked with all the clumsy choreography. It\u2019s in moments like this that Skyscraper<\/strong> veers into unintentional comedic territory. To be fair, ALL of the acting is bad. It\u2019s only fitting since the dialogue is so incredibly dumb. At one point, the architect of the building says, \u201cI designed this building to withstand paramilitary attacks.\u201d Was that even a thing pre-9\/11? I guess so.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cast also includes Deirdre Imershein (Blackbelt) and kickboxer Branko Cikatic as two of Fairfax\u2019s thugs. She figures into the film\u2019s most improbable scene, an incredible feat seeing that Skyscraper<\/strong> is completely made up of them. She walks into the police station where a potential witness is being held, shoots him in the interrogation room and walks out just as easily. WTF? Are these cops really that incompetent? Speaking of the cops, Gordon\u2019s CO is played by Lee de Broux who also played the mob boss at the cocaine factory raid in RoboCop (1987).<\/p>\n

\u00a0Adding intentional comic relief (I think) is Gary Imhoff (The Seniors) as a bespectacled security guard named Dudley. His co-workers kiddingly refer to him as \u201cDudley Do-Right\u201d. He\u2019s a bumbling sort who fancies himself a Dirty Harry-type hero. He plays with his gun and practices tough guy dialogue. What are the chances he gets to display heroism at the end? BTW, the boy seen riding a Big Wheel through the halls like the kid from The Shining is Smith\u2019s son Daniel. That explains why her character is so protective of him. It\u2019s the only convincing thing she does in the movie.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Raymond Martino (Da Vinci\u2019s War), Skyscraper<\/strong> is best watched with your brain in the OFF position. It\u2019s dumb, stupid and idiotic. It\u2019s also a lot of fun as long as you understand what you\u2019re signing on for. It\u2019s a low-rent Die Hard clone and knows it. It leans right into the ridiculousness of it all and never lets up. Plus, you get to see Anna Nicole Smith\u2019s naked boobs. It might be the only time a DTV movie should get the widescreen treatment.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Skyscraper (1996)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 PM Entertainment Group\/Action\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong action violence, sex scenes, nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Raymond Martino\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: William Applegate Jr. and Joseph John Barmettler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Jim Halfpenny\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Frank Harris\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: July 24, 1996 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Anna Nicole Smith, Richard Steinmetz, Branko Cikatic, Calvin Levels, Jonathan Fuller, Lee de Broux, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11562,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guilty-pleasures","category-kick-ass-actioners"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Skyscraper-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11549"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11564,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11549\/revisions\/11564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}