Aliens descend on Los Angeles out of the blue, surround the young casts condo, and prepare to finish them off, then the movie switches to "15 hours earlier". What more import information could we possibly need to know, what the characters exchanged for birthday presents? The switch-up kind of made me want to leave the theater. Instead of wondering, who got what as a housewarming present, I was wondering if the theater would give out a refund 10 minutes into a movie. Guess I'm OK with skipping character development. Skyline picks up quick enough after the reset, I did like the movie. In other films, such as the recent District 9, character isn't really developed - the hero's character is revealed as he's exposed to greater and greater stress.
I should admit that I'm a sucker for these alien invasion movies, I even give Battlefield Earth 8 of 10 stars. Some of the dialogue in Skyline seems a bit off, but at least it's not safe, politically correct or predictable. At times the dialogue is off on purpose. When one of the characters says something like, "we're OK now" you just know something really bad is about to happen. It's almost a cue.
For some Skyline will conjure up images of 9/11. Other's have already taken parts of the movie as a metaphor for rampant consumerism. I felt the attack was a metaphor for the 'illegal alien' invasion of the present day. More specifically, I guess, a replay of the phenomenon of black guys sleeping with a lot (I assume) of white girls. Tragedy after tragedy befall our young heroes and in the end one of the young girls sums it all up by saying, "I hate Los Angeles". In no way is it funny.
There was some infighting among the groups of survivors, perhaps less than in some movies but I felt there was still a bit too much of it. The sympathetic adult our cast befriend has to keep telling one of the young men something like, "Don't bury your head and hope this goes away", "It's real". When the alien machines turn out to be powered by human brains the guy beside me at the theater cringed. He had a valid reaction. White people aren't That smart. The evidence isn't looking too good on that. Besides, brains don't really seem to be what they are after.
At times the movie switches into the mode of fantasy. Some of the American aircraft appear to be models we've never seen before and they have odd sizes and shapes (not sure I've ever rooted for American airplanes this much before). At other times the cast remain remarkably unaffected by the action on screen. It's not even just narrow escapes. Skyline is such an intense movie, and frightening, the fantasy element may help cut down on the tension. I wonder if the disjointed beginning also keeps the movie from being too frightening. When it's revealed we're sort of fighting ourselves it adds even more creepiness and perhaps provides some afterthoughts (of hopelessness) to the experience.
Do we ever actually see the aliens? Did they even bother to land on Earth, or just send army sucking probes here? Why didn't the aliens use robot brains instead of harvesting zombies. Are they tapping into some kind of unknown 'life force'. Is it a matter of invading on a budget? We'll never know unless there's a sequel. Maybe instead of Alien vs Predator, Cloverfield vs Skyline. Both movies are very similar, actually. Maybe both attacks come from the same intelligence. A sequel seems unlikely, though, this movie can be summed up with the words 'we lose'. The main thing going for Skyline (aside from the fear, action and horror) is the ending. The ending is atypical: bleak, realistic, frightening, with again just a touch of fantasy to ease it through.
Thanx
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