Skyline [DVD]

Product Description

Skyline

From Amazon.co.uk

Skyline, an effects-laden thriller from directors Colin and Greg Strause, wears its various influences--films like Alien, District 9, Independence Day, and War of the Worlds--on its sleeve, but even if it doesnt measure up to those predecessors, the film offers enough thrills and action to keep sci-fi fans interested. The Brothers Strause, as they call themselves, have done visual-effects work on blockbusters like Avatar, Titanic, and 300, and the effects are by far the best part of this tale (scripted by Joshua Cordes and Liam ODonnell) about an armada of giant spaceships that suddenly appear in the skies over Los Angeles and immediately set about their business--namely, shooting down immense blue columns of light that hoover every human in sight up into the ships, where aliens will do nasty things to them. Observing this horror from a posh Marina Del Rey penthouse are a group of gorgeous, strikingly solipsistic young people in skimpy clothes, including Jarrod and Elaine (Eric Balfour and Scottie Thompson), a couple visiting from New York. A few action sequences find them trying to escape (bad idea, as the mother ships disgorge an endless supply of smaller, tentacled craft and troops of gross, city-stomping monsters to seek and destroy any luckless fool they encounter). But for the most part they huddle inside, watching the action, screaming hysterically, and uttering dialogue thats either cliché ridden ("What are those things?" "Does it even matter?!") or merely inane (mid-attack, Elaine, whos just learned that shes pregnant, complains when someone lights up a cigarette; youd think shed have more pressing concerns). And therein lies the problem, as some cool images and jolting moments are mitigated by Skylines lame script and below-average acting. --Sam Graham

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