Skyline Review

Before I watched this film I knew that it was directed by the Strausse brothers, the same people who directed Alien Vs Predator so I came into it with a bad feeling. That bad feeling was confirmed as Skyline became increasingly worse with every passing scene creating a big budget B movie, but without the self realisation of being one.

The story, which starts instantly, is about aliens invading earth using large blue lights, or 'sirens', which when looked at pull people into them where they are then pulled into the alien spaceships. We follow couple Jarrod and Elaine (played by Eric Balfour and Scottie Thompson) as they watch the events unfold from their friend Terry's (Donald Faison) apartment in a large multi story building.

 The problem with the entire premise is that, if we're following a group of characters who have no pivotal part to play in the alien invasion, you actually have to care about the people in it. I honestly couldn't have cared less about any of the characters in this film. Jarrod just comes across as a nasty guy and his girlfriend Elaine, who is pregnant, doesn't really do anything in the film. The whole pregnancy situation never provides the two with an emotional connection or add any extra danger, and with no chemistry between the two actors the film just falls apart. The fact that the Strausse brothers try to play this off throughout the film as an epic love story at times is laughable.

The rest of the cast is forgettable and any emotional set ups they are given is never developed because everyone instantly dies without any kind of closure. At times I also felt like I was watching a film within a film as the characters constantly looked out their window at the events of a better movie. Watching a huge battle as US planes took on one of the large spaceships wasn't nearly as good as it could have been. Whereas in Independence Day you were there with the pilots as they took on the aliens and could feel the tension and excitement; here the battle is a bit boring as it really has nothing to do with the people you're suppose to be invested in and you don't have the excitment of being in the cockpit and in the thick of battle.

The film takes a lot of cues from J.J. Abrams and Cloverfield. There is a lot of lens flare which does give the film a nice sci-fi feel and the special effects are pretty good at bringing the aliens to life. But again there is rarely any tension when the cast come into contact with them and these moments become increasingly flat throughout the film with countless last minute saves being really frustrating to watch. There is an odd mixture of documentary style filming like Cloverfield and District 9 with more ordinary movie camerawork. It would have been nice to see them stick with one or the other as it made me feel like I was watching two different edits of the same film.

Skyline is a boring film and does nothing to raise the reputation of the Strausse brothers after Alien vs Predator. The film has a promising start but gets duller as it moves on, but n the plus side, you can at least see what is going on unlike in Alien vs Predator Requiem. But what there is to see is mostly rubbish with a completely random ending that makes no sense at all.

Rating: E