Skyline

Stop me if you heard this before. Aliens invade earth and a handful of survivors try to escape their impending deaths.

It's another War of the Worlds-esque invasion flick but what's nice about this is that it's played straight with no comedic one-liners and there's not a teenager in sight.

Directors Colin Strause and Greg Strause are no strangers to special effects after bringing to life the Predators and Aliens in AVPR (2007) and the rest of the team behind Skyline's extraterrestrials are clearly talented making the best out of a budget. It's visually wonderful, the special effects are fantastic. Nevertheless, Aliens (1986) designers and suit wearers Alec Gillis and Tom Woodruff Jr. creature designs appear to be an unoriginal mix of The Fly, Independence Day, Cloverfield and The Matrix.

The acting is above average and the leads including Eric Balour and Brittany Daniel carry the emotion well. David Zayas is notable as the Hotel manager but his screen time is limited. That said, the script lacks enough meaty dialogue to keep you enthralled and you find yourself waiting for more glimpses and shenanigans of the alien invaders.

Overall, it looks great but it fails to connect and grip you as much as it should. Even so it's a lot better than critics would lead you to believe and recommended to those who don't need a stereotype hero lead, Skyline 2 is more than welcome. The Brothers Strause will hit gold but Skyline just isn't it.

I see many posters claims Skyline is the 'worst movie ever' - that isn't even close to true. This $10 million movie was way better than the $100 million Van Helsing. And also way better than Johnny Mnemonic which is the gold standard by which I judge all bad movies. I actually liked Skyline. It was by no means a great movie but props to the film makers for skipping all of the alien invasion clichés and going with something original. One poster compared it to a zombie movie and I did notice the similarity when I was watching it. The plot does have far more in common with a typical zombie movie than you usual alien invasion movie. Also, way more realistic than any alien invasion movie I've ever seen. Independence Day was fun to watch but it was just cotton candy not serious science fiction.

District 9 probably rejuvenated the science fiction subgenre of an alien presence / invasion on Earth all over again, with no less than three films lined up close to one another that tackle just that - Skyline being the first, then Monsters followed by World Invasion: Battle LA, where the latter had caused the Brothers Strause's Hydraulx effects company probable woes since there is what's deemed to be conflicting interest in The Social Network sense. That aside, Skyline demonstrates that an independently funded film is still feasible, with the usual merits and expected demerits that come with an effects laden movie, but certainly not one that deserved the kind of backlash that it got.

The Brothers Strause Colin and Greg, responsible for AvP Requiem, bring their visual effects wizardry and know-how to making a film that's skewed toward being just that - a special effects extravaganza. How else can you explain the 10 million dollar effects cost against everything else that was budgeted for 0.5 million. Granted that this film was made on the cheap in Hollywood terms, the look and feel was polished, and there can be no qualms about its effects quality, but the story by Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell let it down somewhat.

Unlike District 9, Skyline didn't have anything new to add to the genre, deciding to repeatedly give audiences what we have already seen in a number of genre films, putting them altogether into a single film, be it the Matrix-like sentinels, large spaceships bursting out of the cloudy sky, War of the Worlds like tension between nasty aliens and humans silently hoping everything will turn out fine, with shadows of Transformers, the harvesting of humans for some dastardly alien plan, an Independence Day equivalent of an all out air strike against the aliens albeit with updated weaponry and planes, or even a human-alien hybrid of sorts that opens up the film for a franchise to happen. You're begging for one original thought that the filmmakers could come up with, and you'll find it really tough to get one.

What it did successfully translate however, is how everything was doomed from the start, and gradually we get to realize it's no way out for all the characters, since every conceivable plan that they, and we, come up with, get closed, and closed good. The protagonists are stuck in a penthouse condominium, and escape outside into what's essentially the alien ships vacuum cleaning the entire city of LA of people doesn't sound like a good idea, with the bigger world out there at large, zero communications and a zilch mass media, means questions are constantly raised, with no clear answers.

This fear factor was what I thought the Brothers had successfully translated on screen instead, and frankly will be something quite close to what you or I will do when we panic, and let fear creep in. After all, aliens of all shapes and sizes, flying or on the ground, forcefully ensures every single human being in their sights get sucked into their bodies in the most unsavoury of terms. Think of it as reverse birth, where humans get sucked into what's essentially looks like an alien vagina with plenty of goo, mucus and muck, sometimes with the aid of tentacles shaped like umbilical cords. Bickering is common, with no alpha males stepping up to lead the way because, well, everyone gets picked off one by one.

Characters were expectedly cardboard, although the story did take some unnecessary and uninteresting pains to give us a little bit of a background of those whom we follow. Alas, somehow there's a profound lack of interest in the rich and famous, who stay in swanky apartments and drive cars with the prancing horse logo. There isn't the blue collar, hard worker to root for, and seriously, a bunch of rich pansies don't quite cut it for a film like this where it's about survival of the fittest aided by street smarts. Then again, it does go to show rich or poor, we bite the dust in the same manner when faced with common danger threatening our lives, that Death (by way of Aliens or otherwise) evens the playing field. The premise - you're stuck in a building where all else outside, and soon inside turns into Ground Zero, what will you do?

And also, I suppose films that trumpet the American military might will get the kind of support it does back home, with films like Independence Day and even Transformers 1 and 2, which made it seem like an advertisement for the US Military. Here the military response seems muted and had taken a backseat (well, the budget could be a prime reason), but for what it can muster with the drones and warplanes, one nuke, and a couple of gung-ho boots on ground heli-dropped to nearby rooftops, it isn't the all out war that many perhaps have wanted to see the US forces driving the unwelcome guests away.

With a more original idea and story development to boot, perhaps Skyline could have lived up to its promises and matched the quality of effects put on screen. There's a deliberate void of verbatim answers here, with the filmmakers preferring to keep some cards close to their chest, such as an origin of sorts, or explanation why things occur the way they did, since we're observing from the third person point of view, and the narrative hardly following anyone who has got an idea or a remote clue on what's exactly happening. It's a setup for a follow up film, especially the ending montage, so let's let's hope the area of storytelling gets shored up to develop and add to its mythos.

I don't think Skyline is a bad movie as such. While there were better movies from 2010 such as The King's Speech, The Social Network, The Fighter and Toy Story 3, there are also worse such as Fred:The Movie, The Last Airbender, Vampires Suck and Clash of the Titans.

Skyline is not a good movie, but it isn't in my opinion bad either. If anything, my feelings for Skyline are very mixed. I have seen some comparisons to Battle:Los Angeles, and I do agree this is the better movie, while Skyline did have a lot of problems Battle:Los Angeles was clichéd, under-directed and over-edited and other than Aaron Eckhart, a decent idea and one or two decent scenes there was little of redeeming value.

Starting with the good things of Skyline, the visuals look absolutely great. The cinematography and editing are slick, the scenery is striking and the colours and lighting are bold, but the real star is the special effects which are superb. The sound is another plus, very explosive and authentic, and the soundtrack is memorable, not too generic and fits decently with the mood. Also, the action in general is explosive and exciting.

Skyline does also have its flaws though. The characters are not as clichéd or indifferent as those of Battle:LA and some of the worst of the year, but to be honest I did find some of the characterisation underdeveloped and irritating. The dialogue is often cheesy and seems to be taking an exercise in high camp, and the climax while quite freaky and atmospheric feels like a different tone to the rest of the movie and this was a tone that jarred a bit. The story in its structure is quite soap-opera-like, and can get predictable and pedestrian, the direction is sometimes good sometimes flat and the acting is also uneven ranging from over-eager to bland.

All in all, Skyline was not a bad movie in my opinion, certainly not as bad as I'd heard, but it is a hardly exceptional movie either. 5/10 Bethany Cox

If you like all things alien, this one is for you, if you don't, you might hate it. I have nothing really bad to say about it, nothing that great either, i just enjoyed it.

Its obvious this is a low budget movie, and that most of that budget went into the special effects, which are pretty dazzling for its time!

The movie is set almost entirely inside an apartment building, but it manages to stay intense and exciting for the most part.

The characters are pretty one dimensional, nothing special, neither is the plot, but I don't expect much in the way of either from a B-level sci-fi thriller, and as such I was able to enjoy myself. There is a certain mystery surrounding the aliens and their motives, and although it's never really resolved, it keeps the film intriguing throughout.

So in short, don't expect another "Cloverfield" or "Arrival", in fact don't expect too much, and I think you will find you watched a nice little movie in the end.