by Karl Madsen, ComicsOnline.com
Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket
By now we all know what happens when we travel to foreign countries for a vacation. Beaches, exotic drinks with fruit and little umbrellas, local customs, disappearances, human trafficking, torture, sacrifices…and so much more to make you never want to leave. So how mundane and boring would a vacation in Los Angles with your movie mogul friend be?
The invasion in Skyline takes place just after Jarrod (Eric Balfour – Haven), and girlfriend Elaine (Scottie Thompson – NCIS) come to L.A. to visit Jarrod’s boyhood friend, Terry (Donald Faison – Scrubs), and his girlfriend Candice (Brittany Daniel – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and celebrate Terry’s birthday. After the party winds down and everyone is asleep, the city of angels is woken up by mysterious blue lights and objects smashing into downtown. As associate Ray (Neil Hopkins – Lost) finds out, if you stare at the lights you become mesmerized, your skin begins to change, and then you disappear into thin air. If you look away in time you just go a bit crazy. But wait, it gets worse. When the ships arrive, our survivors see people being sucked, screaming, into the ships. Or maybe watching someone get stuffed into an opening in the alien’s appendages is worse? How about when the aliens take the brain out of a person to replace the dead organ in one of the smaller aliens? Add in building manager, and fellow survivor, Oliver (David Zayas – Dexter), escape attempts, fighting back by survivors and the military, and some serious effects of looking into the light and not being sucked away.
Skylineis a good movie. A very, very good movie that portrays how people would probably act in an invasion, with none of the calm, cool heroics that takes place in most movies of this genre. We experience fear, panic, frustration, differences of opinions, and no clear leadership. But, with all this you also get some of the finest effects in Blu-ray.
Special Features:
Feature Commentaries with the Filmmakers
Deleted and Extended Scenes
Alternate Scenes
Pre-Visualization
D-Box Enabled
BD Live Available
Video – 1080p High Definition Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio – English DTD-HD Master Audio 5.1, DVS™ Dolby Digital 2.0, Espanol, Francois DTS Surround 5.1
Alien lights or sitting to close to the TV?
Karl’s Scores:
Acting – A
Setting – A-
Effects – A+
Creep Factor – B
Tension – B+
What the Heck Moments – 4+
Overall – B+
When I first watched this film I made comparisons to some other weak, but visually appealing movies, even seeing a resemblance between the aliens in Independence Day and Skyline, down to the little guy in one of the creatures’ heads. There is no time to develop characters, and no way for the aliens to make their intentions know, except through domination, and destruction. Then I realized the perceived realism of the situation. If an invasion were to happen like this one, the general population wouldn’t know what is happening, or why. Tempers would flare from anger and fear, and fights over survival and power would erupt. Meanwhile the aliens will be kicking our butts till the cows come home. If there are any cows left, that is.
This flick draws you in emotionally, and has fantastic special effects, so don’t pass this one up.
ComicsOnline gives Skyline 5 people vacuums out of 5.
Pick-up your copy of Skyline on Blu-rayor DVDat Amazon.com.
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