Film Friday: Skyline Review

Title: Skyline
Genre: Horror/Sci-fi
Directed by: Greg and Colin Strause

• Written by: Joshua Cordes & Liam O'Donnell
• Starring: 

• Eric Balfour
• Scottie Thompson
• Brittany Daniel
• Donald Faison
• Release Date: November 12th, 2010
• Rating: 1/5

What a piece of crap. There. Review is done.

...fine


You know those horror movies where the main characters are shallow, selfish a-holes and, so you could A. care less about the characters and B. don't care when they die and actually are cheering for the opposing side a little? Imagine that, but instead of a slasher flick it is an alien invasion.

The movie follows a group of partiers in LA (what is it about LA and aliens?) who, after a night of revelry, soon find themselves and city under siege from an unknown alien race abducting humanity and killing all who oppose them. The group tries to escape the huge condo building they are in through a variety of ways but end up trying to wait out the attack and pray the military arrives in time.

While I suppose the movie does take up the notion that not everyone is the alien fighting hero and looks at what would happen when a group of (arguably) everyday people are faced with an alien invasion. However, as I said, they are all people I could care less about and the fact that the movie tries hard to make me empathize with them and feel sorry about character deaths is insulting given the fact they previously made it clear these people are selfish a-holes.

Like a slasher flick, there is little plot and even less character development and, just when the movie starts to get interesting (the last 3 minutes of the movie) the credits start to roll, giving the viewer, had they stuck with the movie so long, the finger one last time. The only thing operating in this film's favor is the fact that it is strongly suggested that humanity loses, that we are conquered and the aliens take over the planet and harvest the resource they came here for: human brains. That, and its fun to see Turk from Scrubs get eaten.

I suggest avoiding this movie and, if you want to watch a movie where alien invaders attack and destroy LA, watch Battle: LA or, better yet, ID4.

Don't let the trailer fool you, this movie is horrible.