Skyline
Skyline is an “Independence Day” type alien invasion film set primarily in LA and told through the perspective of a small group of people trapped in a penthouse while trying to survive the battle for the city between the aliens and the military. The movie is directed by the brothers Strause, who are previously known for creating the special effects sequences for many music videos, commercials and movies such as  300, X-Men: The Last Stand, Fantastic Four, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, and The Day After Tomorrow.Â
There are no big stars in the movie, and the directors have boasted that they filmed the whole thing for 500k, then spent 10 million on the effects. The experience of watching the movie bears out this boast in spades, as it looks like a special effects showpiece where the actors have little to do and less to say while they run and tumble back and forth, up and down, and  to and from one effects set piece after another. The effects are truly spectacular, but the movie goes from mildly interesting to kinda creepy to an ending that can only be described as icky and grotesque. Hardcore effects fans and Sci-fi junkies might be entertained; others should stay away.
Posted on November 12, 2010, in Movies, Reviews and tagged Skyline. Bookmark the permalink. 30 Comments.
Bummer, the trailer made it look like a lot of fun.
how is it in relation to District 9?
jj: some people will think it’s a lot of fun, but not people who like a story, or characters in their movies.
Dan: my view of that would be that District 9 was far superior because it actually had a plot.
I thought the trailer looked pretty lame. Within a few seconds, you could tell it was a standard alien-invasion movie with nothing really creative to add. (Contrast the trailer for District 9, which clearly had much more going on.)
Weren’t the directors and writers the guys who did the awful Aliens vs. Predators sequel? (And you have to be pretty bad to make Paul W.S. Anderson look good)
Clark: yes, the Strauses did A v. P Requiem, which I believe was their first feature as directors.
They are apparently already working on a sequel to Skyline, but I can’t imagine why, given the way this movie ends. It really is one of the darkest film endings I have ever seen.
I’m not surprised. The trailers made me understand that they are not going to really tell me anything about this movie until/if I see it or that it really is just a simple, lame plot of special effects alien invasion. Funny that it seemed to fail at both. At least these aliens use pretty blue rather than the standard green:)
It’s weird how Hollywood goes through these streaks. We had a streak of vampire movies, now overdone. Zombie movies which with AMC is about to be overdone. We now have a slew of alien invasion movies coming out. Most are retreads of War of the Worlds.
Makes me wonder what original can come out of Hollywood. (And please don’t say Avatar!)
To be clear, I don’t think this movie fails at doing effects. If you want to see some amazing effects, this just might be the movie for you, but it does fail at practically everything else.
One of the interesting things about the movie is the way that the aliens are depicted. First of all, There’s no explanation for why they are invading, one is just left to assume that they needed to fuel up on their way to Alpha Centauri and this was a convenient place to grab some grub and other resources for the road trip. Similarly, there is no explanation for why the aliens are depicted in at least three different ways.
Some are flying octpuses about the size of a pick-up truck, some are huge, stomping, land-bound monsters like slimy king kongs, and then there are enormous ships that small fighter-plane sized aliens zip in and out of. It’s not totally clear what is an alien and what is a ship and why the different alien looks. It’s a mess, really.
Clark, re the streak of alien invasion movies: Sony is threatening a lawsuit over the fact that this movie is being released while the Strauses are simultanneously working on another alien invasion movie for Sony that also depicts a batttle with aliens over the city of LA. Sony claims that the Strauses stole the idea and a number of resources for making this movie from them.
I missed the conversation about District 9 because I didn’t see it until recently. Did everyone like it?
I’m not very interested in this movie.
#10. The Battle Los Angeles just released a trailer. It does look about the same as this one.
I want spoilers MCQ. What is the epilogue all about?
SPOILERS-SPOILERS-SPOILERS
Ok, so Eric Balfour plays Jerrod, whose girlfriend tells him that she’s pregnant at the beginning of the movie. The two of them are, coincidentally, the only two people that appear to survive the alien invasion. After we are shown that the alien victory is complete, the couple is captured and sucked into the slimy, hellish interior of the alien spacecraft (think the end of Aliens where Ripley follows the aliens into their deep dark breeding chamber).
Jerrod is picked up by an alien and his brain is harvested in full view of his pregnant girlfirend. After his headless body is unceremoniously discarded, his brain is loaded into a newly birthed alien body that looks like a slimy gorilla with spider eyes.
Alien/Jerrod tracks down his pregnant girlfriend in the bowels of the ship and, though she thinks he is an alien come to kill her, he caresses her face with his vile, slimy alien claw in a way that reveals his true identity. She screams his name. Roll credits.
Well I guess we should give them props for not throwing in a nice cheerful Independence Day ending.
MCQ,
That’s awesome!
Well that at least sorta explains why they want brains. Of course it raises questions of how their species came into being in the first place if they can’t grow their own brains.
If they are the guys behind AvP: Requiem, I believe that they start that movie by face sucking a small child and showing the alien burst from his chest from his point of view. So, these are folks who like to push boundaries in crappy movies. Are they financing the sequel to the Human Centipede?
Geoff, it really doesn’t explain anything because there was no indication up to that point that they were after brains. At the end, when it showed the brain harvesting, it seemed out of the clear blue. And yeah, what’s the deal with their own brains? Again, no explanation.
Well unfortunately, if they really did make this movie for cheap it will probably turn a nice profit. It is unfortunate because that means we’ll be subjected to more movies from these guys.
(I saw AvP:Requiem on tv a month or two ago. It was craptastic)
I find it slightly hilarious that this is being followed by Battle: Los Angeles. That poor poor city.
Battle: Los Angeles looks a lot better creatively, alghough both might have poor writing. This one looks like an over the top clone of Independence Day with a bad ending.
Battle: LA is the one that Sony is suing over.
Whatever happens with the lawsuit, I can’t imagine that the Strauses are going to be hired by anyone else in Hollywood ever again.
Can you imagine their ads in Variety?
“Hire us to do your effects! Great work at a reasonable price! And THIS time we promise not to steal the idea of your movie and make our own movie using your equipment that will come out just before yours does! We promise!”
District 9 was Epic Awesomeness. Great story, great effects, and even social commentary that wasn’t delivered with heavy-handed obviousness.
I don’t know anything about the litigation, but I’m skeptical. Is it stealing when the concept is so basic (i.e., aliens invade Los Angeles).
You know, a lot of Hollywood movies seem to be set in LA. I wonder why that is.
Greg, I don’t know much about the case, but it sounds like it’s about more than just LA. Plus, Sony is saying that the Strauses used Sony’s equipment to do the effects for their movie while they were supposed to be working on Sony’s.
And just the whole timing thing is suspect. How do you work for a client and take their money while secretly working on your own movie that has the same concept and hits theaters just before your client’s movie. Something’s not right about that.
“even social commentary that wasn’t delivered with heavy-handed obviousness.”
Hey, I loved District 9. But it’s commentary about South Africa most certainly was heavy handed.
MCQ sounds like they are hoping they make more than they are sued for. But I agree they won’t work in this townagain.
I think they knew they were burning their bridges but didn’t care because they see themselves as filmmakers now, rather than just effects guys.