Skyline - A Invasão

Just saw an advance screening of this new sci-fi would be epic and although I won't give away too much of the plot (as wafer thin as it is)I will say the conclusion has shades of District 9, looks to be there for a Skyline part 2. After a gleaming light blankets over Los Angeles one random morning @430am, it lures people outside. Looking directly into the light causes a dire effect which is part of the problem. None of that is explained. Eric Balfour is a good looking leading man, pity his chiseled features out weigh his acting ability. However in his defence, the script sucks, I could write a better one over breakfast. The special effects are certainly effective for the most part. My favourite moments are when the bad boy aliens are on the attack against Stealth jets and the view from the rooftops are outstanding visuals. The trailer was certainly interesting and the film simply doesn't back up the premise. War of the worlds and Independence Day have had a baby, it's called SKYLINE. Worth a look, it's a good sci-fi curiosity and the female leads are all gorgeous which helps matters with such a soft screenplay.

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

I usually agree with IMDb ratings, but with this one I could not disagree more. 4.5???? Ridiculous. Yes, It's certainly not a masterpiece, and doesn't have an incredibly clever or elaborate script, however it has a lot of virtues that deserve a whole lot more than a poor 4.5: First the visual effects are really, really good. Second: the acting in my opinion was also very acceptable, very natural and according to the situation, the way normal humans would react to an extraordinary terrifying situation, an alien invasion; a few cliché dialog but nothing really to be annoyed for. Another plus is the end: incredibly bizarre and surprising, didn't see it coming. Finally and most important, it kept me interested all the way till the end, which is what a movie should do. Now, knowing that the budget for this movie was $10 million I honestly think the producers and the whole team did an excellent job. 7/10 seems a fair rating for me and I truly recommend it to sci-fi lovers despite the bad ratings.

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.

One lesson I've learned is to not read online reviews before I go see a film as I did not find this movie to be half as bad as the people on this site claim. After reading that this movie was not even worth renting and that it was the worst film ever made and then seeing it, I didn't think it came close to any of those opinions.

It was far from perfect, but as far as entertainment value I was satisfied. It kept up a good pace with semi-interesting twists and turns. I even found myself to be holding onto my seat at times wondering what was gonna happen next.

This movie was 10 times better than something like Sex and The City part 2 or Eat, Pray, Love. I suggest checking it out for yourself and not listening to the scathing reviews on this site.