‘Skyline’ is alien mumbo-jumbo

By John Soltes

Take some tall buildings. Add in a few strategically located alien ships. Throw some screaming humans into the mix. And you’ve got yourself the ingredients to a modern sci-fi film. Think Independence Day. Think Battle: Los Angeles. And, now, think Skyline.

Unfortunately, just having the ingredients doesn’t mean that the movie is any good. And Skyline is quite pathetic.

A cross between Cloverfield and every alien invasion movie that came before it, Skyline tells the story of Jarrod (Eric Balfour of Six Feet Under) and Elaine (Scottie Thompson, who just because she shares a name with an iconic Star Trek character, doesn’t make she’s a sci-fi queen). The Brooklyn-based couple is in Los Angeles visiting Jarrod’s best friend, Terry (Donald Faison of Scrubs). There’s a few other characters who pop up, including a chivalric doorman played by Dexter’s David Zayas, but the main event is what happens in the sky.

As Jarrod and company try to catch some shuteye in Terry’s tricked out high-rise apartment, a piercing blue light shines through the shades. The blinding illumination causes a strange decaying process to occur in all who take a look.

What is the light? Well, it’s never really explained. The only thing we know is that it emanates from bad-ass alien ships that hover above Los Angeles.

One thing leads to another, as they always do in these films, and the characters are all running for their lives.

I suppose you have to give Skyline credit, because at its heart, the film is a small story. It never deviates from Jarrod and his friends, and we never cut away to presidents speaking behind lecterns or Asian countries running away from similar threats. The movie stays focused on its small assemblage of supporting roles.

But, there should be characters worth focusing in on. Balfour does the best job he can with a shamefully underwritten role. Zayas is also always enjoyable to watch. But the rest of the cast buckles under the weight of the movie. You just don’t feel anything for them, and that makes it kind of ho-hum when they are each picked off one by one by the aliens in the sky.

The visual effects are semi-impressive, but Michael Bay’s films and the great District 9 have all done robo-alien before (and they’ve done it better).

The final few minutes try to wrap up the meaning of the movie, but by that point, you’ll either be sleeping or dozing off. Co-directors Colin and Greg Strause, who are billed as The Brothers Strause, obviously love alien films. Hopefully next time they’ll make an original one.

Skyline

2010

Directed by The Brothers Strause

Starring Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, David Zayas and Donald Faison

Running time: 94 minutes

Bubble score: 1 out of 4

(Click here to purchase Skyline on DVD.)