I was one of the first to say that the trailer for this film looked interesting, but then the reviews started to come in and I found that there were many other films that I would rather pay for than this one. I finally caught up with “Skyline” directed by The Brothers Strause and I have to say that it is everything that they say it is.
“Skyline” is a pretty stock standard end-of-the-world film that suffers from uninspired performances and a truly silly script. The one plus for this film is some really nicely done special effects. This isn’t surprising when the directors have a special effects background and have said, in interviews, that the film cost about $1 million dollars to shoot and then they spent $10 million on the effects. This is a silly ratio and the film may have been better if they had spent just a little more on better actors and a couple more passes on the script.
I will state that “Skyline” isn’t dreadful, it is just woefully average. The film is really nicely shot on the Red One 4K camera system and looks really pretty and the film is watchable right up to the last few minutes were the film just becomes an incomprehensible mess.
The story is simple, a group of interchangeable young party animals are trapped in a penthouse when aliens attack. There is lots of angst as the young cast try to figure out what to do. Most of the film takes place in the penthouse, I assume for budgetary reasons, and this hurts the film. If the cast and screenplay had been better this might have worked, however because the cast is boring we want to go outside and see the aliens wreaking havoc because they are more interesting.
Alfred Hitchcock set several films in limited locations (“Rope” (1948), “Lifeboat” (1944), “Rear Window” (1954)) to great effect. The Brothers Strause are no Hitchcock.
This is not a good film, but it might make a fun film for a group of friends to mock as they are gathered around a DVD.
Originally published on My Year With Movies
If you must see it, “Skyline” will be on DVD/Blu-Ray on March 17th.
