Skyline

 

Skyline

Action (Sci Fi)

2010

Rated: PG-13

Running  Time: 94 minutes

Directed By: The Strause Brothers

Starring: Eric Balfour, Brittaney Daniel, David Zayas, Donald Faison

Rating 3 out of 10

Outline

Los Angeles is beset with unknown crafts that are intent on kidnapping the populace without warning.

Review

Aliens and cinema have a long storied history together. It seems the viewing public cannot get enough of the unknown from outer space. Aliens come in many forms, shapes, and sizes but just like vampires are rarely interesting or entertaining on the big screen. Unfortunately Skyline falls into that category and is your pretty weak run of the mill type alien film with little to offer the viewer. Hollywood loves to release similar movies at the same time. So this would be a mirror image to the movie Battle LA in more ways than one. When I think of the word skyline I picture the majestic skyscrapers of New York or the calm beauty of cottage country at dusk. This movie has now invaded my mind in the sense that skylines are not always awe inspiring. A simple lead in introduces the viewer to the players that you will be following through the uncertainty of first contact. I liked this because alien movies do not need deep characters. They just need people to be believable as they run from the alien menace. Unfortunately for us there was not a single actor’s performance worth mentioning. Pretty much following the movie Independence Day a giant ship settles in the middle of LA and terrorizes the population with menacing blue lights. This is the simplest of stories and that is survive the invasion. The script is a terrible mess with the lead Jarrod (Balfour) not being able to hold the viewers attention at all. The directors the Strauss brothers seem to pull the audience every which way but the right way which is frustrating. There are many forms of aliens in this movie so at least there is some diversity in that department. The quality of these designed aliens is suspect though and the fighting you do get to witness tends to be sloppy and disjointed. Aliens are always here for a certain reason usually focusing on natural resources but what they were after in this film is a joke. The film will lose you quite early and you will find yourself playing who will still be alive at the end of this film guessing game. I found with the crappiness of this film I was cheering for the aliens to finish off the humans so I could do anything else. When you finally think the film is done the script calls for a very predictable and stupid ending that somehow makes the movie worse. Just to point out I always find it funny these aliens come millions of light years to reach earth but never attack us from outerspace with weapons they always have to invade for some reason. I cannot recommend this film as its story might be out of this world but its execution is painfully ordinary.

T Factor + If you like campy alien movies this could score higher on the rating scale.

T Factor – If you like films with deep character development then this could score lower on the rating scale.

If you liked this film reel recommendations: Battle LA, Independence Day