Review: Skyline

Skyline (2010)

Genre: Sci-Fi

Format: Theatrical Release

Director: The Brothers Strause

After releasing the cinematic abomination also known as Alien vs. Predator: Requiem three years ago, I was sure that the directing duo of the Strause brothers would be too embarrassed to actually helm another film project and just stick to their special effect works. Unfortunately, that piece of garbage actually made a lot of money in the box office so here we are again with another vanity project that looks great but does absolutely nothing in terms of providing us with any sort of narrative excitement.

This movie may have borrowed quite heavily from the enjoyable Independence Day as well as the stunning masterpiece Cloverfield but its mimicry doesn't even come close to the effectiveness of any of those superior titles. It's another alien invasion film that focuses solely on a group of survivors who found themselves trapped inside an expensive apartment building in Los Angeles. I do like the fact that the movie follows a small group of people but the problem here is that there is little emotional payoff given to the audience due to poor characterizations and shockingly boring moments in between the action sequences. There is this weird "bromance" versus "romance" thing in the movie that is used as the main element of tension - at least for a good chunk of the running time - that feels extremely forced and it is obvious that the writers were trying too hard to make the forgettable characters cool, hip, and current in which they are not. Then, there is also that silly ending that almost worked until the final "twist" happened and when it did, the movie just could not be saved anymore. Not even the incredible special effects can entice me to watch this movie ever again.

The Brothers Strause have apparently focused too much on visual works in their career that it becomes impossible for them to retain their audience's attention via other cinematic means. If only the great looking alien ships and creatures found here are put into use with a decent screenplay, it could have easily been a winning combination. Also note that if you have seen the trailer for this film. you have pretty much seen the bulk of the special effects - another disturbing pattern for the directors because they pretty much spoiled almost all of the cool moments in AVP:Requiem via the trailer as well. Apparently, they don't have any confidence in the actual story setups that they are selling so they just had lure us in by using all the pretty moments they could find from the films.

RATING: 1 out of 5