Skyscraper (2018)

The film The Towering Inferno was adapted from two books, The Tower, and The Glass Inferno.

The book Nothing Lasts Forever was apparently written after the author, Roderick Thorpe saw The Towering Inferno and then had a dream about a man being chased through a skyscraper by men with guns. That book was adapted into the movie Die Hard.

Skyscraper is about a man being chased through a skyscraper by men with guns, while the building is on fire, so we're already on two grandparents and one parent in the family tree of influences.

Adding to this Frankenstein approach, there are also elements from the TV series 24 thrown in for good measure.

With all this packed in, the film manages a running time of 100 minutes, which is remarkably short for the modern blockbuster.

Starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, it's pretty much what you would expect from a Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson film - a charismatic performance, big, ridiculous action set pieces (although the one that strained my credulity the most involved Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson climbing a ladder), and a substantial amount of cheese.

Neve Campbell, playing Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's wife in the film at first appears as if she's going to be the stereotypical female-in-distress, but the film manages to give her much more to do than be rescued by her husband (take that Die Hard), which was a pleasant surprise.

It's also set in Hong Kong, which scores it extra points as it's tied with New York for my second favourite city in the world (London beats both of those in that race).

It's unlikely to win any Oscars, but as a leave-your-brain-at-home action movie, it does its job in being an entertaining way to spend less than two hours.