A trip to LA to visit his wealthy friend turns into a fight for survival for Jarred and his pregnant girlfriend Elaine when aliens attack, rapidly decimating the city. Can the unarmed group of survivors escape war torn LA all the while attempting to avoid the invaders’ hypnotic blue light?
Focusing on a group of normal people rather than gun toting heroes Skyline bears some similarities to Cloverfield; in fact it bears a lot of similarities to a lot of movies. It’s not the most original of films but after the debacle that was Aliens vs Predator: Requiem this next offering from Colin and Greg Strause is an enjoyable return to simplistic alien invasion cinema. The cast, plucked from a handful of American TV shows, lend a hint of unpredictability as to who will die and who will survive. They do a serviceable job portraying the expected mix of characters with a brief amount of time devoted to fleshing out their back stories amid the usual mix of infighting and escape attempts.
But what Skyline’s really all about is action. Thankfully the movie excels on a visual level with a series of noteworthy scenes ranging from the evocative depiction of masses of humans being sucked up into the belly of alien craft to the brain eating biomechanical creatures laying waste to the city and hunting those left alive. Despite the small cast and budget the film convincingly conveys citywide devastation, and the inevitable military retaliation depicted from the survivors point of view.
Skyline is a perfectly acceptable, if unremarkable, low budget sci-fi movie. It doesn’t provide much in the way of memorable characters or genre defying plot twists but is certainly no worse than many a recent blockbuster, delivering plenty of entertaining action with impressive FX. Sadly as soon as it takes an enticing plot development it comes to an abrupt halt which will no doubt leave many viewers unsatisfied.
