So, when I sat down to watch Skyline, I was pretty sure I had it pegged as another Cloverfield flop that would leave me nauseous with a migraine and vertigo. But, actually, it was more Independence Day meets War of the Worlds via Tom Cruise (which I must confess, I enjoyed). Skyline, for the most part, was actually pretty good, and unlike Cloverfield, it didn’t get me motion sick and it vividly showed me the aliens. I’m not going to say that every minute of it was brilliant, but it proved to be entertaining enough to see in the theaters.
For those of you not familiar with the 2010 flick, here's the blip written by our friends at Universal Pictures. "Strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth." Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it?
Alright, now with that aside, let me start with the bad news. I'm all for the use of flash backs. I think they're very powerful things. Heck, the entire show of Lost was based on the concept. But, the way in which a flash back was used basically five minutes into the movie really pissed me off. What was the point? They didn’t need it. Usually those sort of flashbacks are used to explain to the viewer how the characters got to this climactic intro to the story, but this movie didn't open at the climax, nor was it the most exciting part in the film, so it just really made no sense to me. The movie really should have started from the beginning of flash back. I just don’t see the point, really.
My other gripe is the end, which I can appreciate the concept, but I’m so very annoyed at the same time. I’ll get to that later, though. First, I’m like to beg the question, why are the aliens in this movie attacking earth and sucking all the little people up into their mother ships? I mean, it’s in my nature to want things to have a purpose beyond mind-numbingly killer special effects, which they were!
Well, Independence Day says that their aliens go from planet to planet burning up all of its natural resources and sucking it dry, and then they move on. War of the Worlds says that our planet is full of yummy human fodder upon whose blood the aliens like to feed. Mmmm. Men in Black: aliens are trying to escape interstellar oppression, and let’s face it, Earth is like the universe’ American… everybody wants to go there to live the dream. And then in Signs, well… really, I think the purpose there was just to torment Mel Gibson. But Skyline really doesn’t have any reason why the aliens come rudely and blindingly crashing to Earth to kill off mankind. But here’s what I kinda get from it. In Skyline, humans are basically like little disposable batteries to aliens. Our bodies are that annoying plastic wrapping that we just throw away and our brains are like long-lasting lithium batteries. I mean, spoiler alert, look at the alien that got clobbered by a car in the parking garage. All it had to do was pop the head off it’s nearest victim like a Pez dispenser and insert the guy’s brain into itself, and voilà! It’s alive!!!
And what was that with the creepy skin issue that started coming back on Jarrod even without the light? The dude was starting to turn into Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman) from Underworld. It’s like he gets all angry and super-human, and yet somehow he manages to lose to the aliens?! Holy, wow, big spoiler alert. Sorry. But I did put a warning at the beginning of this. Yes, while Elaine manages to wake up and move about freely in the mess of bodies on the ship, Jarrod, who exhibited inhuman abilities mere moments prior in the film, lays there like a limp noodle and lets his head get popped of and his brain hijacked. Seriously? You have to be kidding me. This is supposed to be the part where he and the girl try to escape, get horribly cornered and then the credits role leaving us wondering. To their credit, they sort of did that, but Jarrod comes back in the body of one of the creatures and protects his girlfriend and blah blah, yeah, they messed up the ending.
Alright, so anyways, let me touch on the good things about the movie. Like I said before, killer special effects. It was a rather realistic picture of the inevitable destruction of mankind by technology. Wow, was that subtext or what? The writers really blended the use of futuristic technology of an advanced race with the emotions and will to survive of human kind. It was stunning in the regard. You’re rooting all the time for the survival of the characters. Oh, and another plus? It starred Eric Balfour, which is a check mark in my book, because I really liked him in Six Feet Under.
What else can be said about Skyline? I had my issues with it, but I would probably still see it again. It was, on the whole, very entertaining, and you have to be your own judge on how it ends. I took it for what it was and I can appreciate it. Now it’s your turn.
Krista ♥
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