Skyline, Blu-ray (2011)

by | Mar 6, 2011 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews | 0 comments

Skyline, Blu-ray (2011)

Starring: Eric Balfour, Donald Faison
Studio: Universal 61116489 [3/22/11]
Video: 1.85:1 for 16:9 1080p HD color
Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, DVS DD 2.0, Spanish or French DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Extras: Commentary tracks with filmmakers, Deleted and extended scenes, Alternate scenes, Pre-Visualization, D-Box enabled, BD-Live 2.0
Length: 94 minutes
Rating: **½

This film, and another Blu-ray that was so bad I’m not even reviewing it, may cause me to give up my practice of seeing every sci-fi film out – even if they got panned – because I like sci-fi.  This one features the spectacular cgi visual effects of the Brothers Strause, who were involved in Avatar, Titanic and 300.  And that’s the only praiseworthy aspect to this film as far as I’m concerned – the terrific special effects.

The story is set in modern-day LA and is of three days in the life of a small group of beautiful, self-satisfied young people in a posh penthouse. Too much time is given to their self-centered lives. They are awakened early one morning by brilliant blue lights outside, and it turns out horrible aliens have attacked the earth from giant spaceships and are vacuuming up all the humans in those blue pathways to do terrible things to them in their spaceships. The military eventually makes a feeble attempt to fight them but nothing can stop the variety of smaller life forms that come out of the ships to collect up all the humans on the planet.

Much of the main body of the film is concerned with the small ever-diminishing group of young people trying to somehow hide from the aliens.  I will give the film a point in making the aliens totally unlike anything human – perhaps closest to the ones in the Alien movies – and definitely relentless and genocidal.  No attention is given to where they are from, what they are, what they want, etc. However, they’re better actors than the humans. The film could end satisfactorily with the lead couple lifted up into the alien ship together (the girl has become pregnant by the boy).  But no, viewers must be subject to a gross and disgusting ending clearly leaving the way open to a sequel, which I will be very sure of missing. One online reviewer loved Skyline – saying it was Independence Day done right.  But Independence Day was FUNNY!

 — John Sunier

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