SKYLINE (Alliance, 2010) D: Colin and Greg Strause, w/ Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson. Rating: NN DVD package: NNN Rating: NN
Skyline is War Of The Worlds done with five people in a condo and a $1.98 budget. This is fine if you’re a hardcore genre fan. Otherwise, not so much.
Giant alien ships arrive and start hoovering up humanity. Two guys, their girlfriends and a hanger-on try to survive when the monsters descend.
The CG isn’t especially convincing, but the ships and monsters have an unusual teeth-and-tentacles look that suggests H.P. Lovecraft’s transdimensional horrors. They’re well used in a cool aerial battle and the action-packed final half-hour.
Barring a few moments, the first hour wastes time on needless backstory and tries to generate scares from the aliens’ hypnotic white light. That’s not easy when acting, writing and directing are adequate at best.
Directing brothers Colin and Greg Strause and writers Joshua Cordes and Liam O’Donnell all come from effects backgrounds, which may explain why their story ideas are rudimentary and the Strauses’ commentary leans toward the technical, but their enthusiasm, attitude and anecdotes make them worth a listen.
EXTRAS Two commentaries, deleted, extended and altered scenes, more. Widescreen. English, French audio and subtitles.
