Skyscraper (3 Stars)

After watching the very good film about Anna Nicole Smith's life I decided to go back and re-watch her films. I own two of the three films in which she had the leading role, and I've put them both on my priority to-watch shelf.

Let's be perfectly honest. Anna Nicole Smith was never a good actor. She was hired to play the leading role in "Skyscraper" because she was a celebrity. She was a moderately successful model, having been Playboy's Playmate of the Year in 1993, but she gained her biggest notoriety from marrying the billionaire oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall. She wasn't someone who wanted to be a rich housewife hidden away in a mansion, she wanted everyone to see her. She wanted to become a big Hollywood star. She had more opportunities than most people, but she didn't have the talent needed to succeed.

A terrorist group calling itself the People's Democratic Liberation Party has acquired the four parts it needs to build a device that can control satellites. Anna Nicole Smith plays Carrie Wisk, a helicopter pilot for Heliscort, a type of flying taxi company that carries passengers from one building to another in Los Angeles. It certainly beats the traffic. She carries two of the terrorists to the roof of the Vitex Building, but before leaving the terrorists secretively break off her radio antenna so that she can't report her position. That's a mistake. If they'd left the antenna intact she would have left to pick up her next customer. Without radio contact she has to go down into the building to phone her boss.

The terrorists take hostages when the police arrive -- couldn't they have collected the four parts of their device at a more discreet place? -- so only Anna Nicole is left to save the hostages, the city and the whole world.

"Skyscraper" has all the merits of an action film made for TV: reasonable special effects and tough guys who can put on impressive fight scenes, but poor acting and a weak script. It wouldn't be worth watching at all if not for Anna Nicole. The film starts with a shower scene, showing Anna Nicole washing her enormous breasts. That's probably what the male viewers are paying to see. After this obligatory nude scene the action starts, slowly at first. Halfway through the film the director must have started worrying that the male viewers would be getting bored, so there's a totally unnecessary flashback of Carrie making love with her husband.

I find one of the later scenes more enjoying. Anna Nicole is captured, and one of the terrorists is assigned to guard her.

Instead of just guarding her he decides to have some fun. Boys will be boys.

He rips Anna Nicole's clothes off, not noticing that she's found a letter opener on the desk. We can't see where she stabs him, but it seems to hurt. Girls will be girls.

So what does a man say when a woman overpowers him? Does he apologise and promise never to do it again? No, he swears at her with vile language that I won't repeat in my blog.

Bad idea. She shoots him with his own gun. He deserved it.

It's this scene that earns the film a three star rating. It's the film's one highlight. It's the one scene that stops the film being completely forgettable.

"Skyscraper" is now out of print on DVD, but it's available to watch on Amazon Prime in America and England. Take a look if you're a member. Maybe you'll like it.