Skyline "Don't Look Up"

Directed By: The Brothers Strause

Starring: Eric Balfour & Scottie Thompson

Shot for the incredibly low price of 10 million dollars, Skyline tells the story of several individuals who are trapped in a high end LA apartment while aliens attack the city. The individuals are armed with a nifty telescope that projects an image on to their television screen, so whenever they are not on the roof of the apartment being chased by some alien, they can see and watch in terror what is going on below them in the city.

At the time of this writing, Skyline has an embarrassing 4.5/10 on imdb.com and a 16% on rottentomatoes.com and I believe I can explain why. Before the aliens start attacking, the film is allowed to establish its characters and develop situations for them that should later create tension and drama for the film. For example, we learn one couple has just gotten pregnant and that another character is cheating on his girlfriend. However, the characters and their relationships feel underdeveloped, and by the time the aliens start attacking, I don’t think anybody really cared what happened to the characters by this point.

However, character relationships, underdeveloped or not, is not the reason why I am interested in watching a movie like this. The creatures and their design is the major selling point for me. I read that the majority of the budget was spent on the effects and whoever’s decision that was, I must agree with them. There are multiple types of aliens and they all look really, really good. Of course there is a giant mothership, smaller ships that have giant tentacles coming out their back, a giant flying head (that amusingly resembles a vagina to me) with tentacles, a giant alien that is stories tall, such as Godzilla or the monster from Cloverfield, and the working class aliens that stand erect like a human being.

My favorite alien was the giant alien that is stories tall like Godzilla. Not only can this guy crush cars and buildings whenever he steps on them, he can shoot multiple tentacles out of his hand that catch people and then swallow them in his hand or take down massive targets like a helicopter. Even cooler, there are several of these dudes wrecking havoc on Los Angeles.

In my opinion, Skyline also suffers from some lame one liners, weird tough guy moments, and jet fighter scenes that resemble something from Independence Day. However, Skyline ends with a fairly memorable WTF scene that makes it worthy enough to at least be a Netflix rental. While that does sound kind of harsh, I actually want to encourage people to watch this movie. If you search for Skyline on imdb.com, one of the suggestions is Skyline 2 in 2012. If that's the case, I’m on board for a sequel.

My Rating: 6 out of 10
Trailer for Skyline: