Skyline (2010)

[wintertriangles]

http://www.onlinemovieshut.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/skyline-movie-poster.jpg

The problem with science fiction is that regardless what topic you choose, you automatically have to assume the audience understands that they cannot argue with certain logic of whatever you make up for the sheer fact that they don’t know. Now, it’s from this point the artist can move towards making the audience forget about it, or taking advantage of it. The Strause Brothers chose the latter route, and I’m pretty sure it was accidental.

In their film Skyline, a first screenplay written by two visual effects men (Avatar, AVP: R), we have a complete alien takeover. Not necessarily anything new in of itself, but an explorable topic. The pro is that the writers opted for a more realistic version over some pseudo-catastrophe-yet-everyone-lives like Independence Day was and really made the audience feel as though there’s absolutely no way to save yourself…and that feeling was impacted due to a crescendo of disasters following glimmers of hope. The con is that they didn’t explore the theme of a takeover other than the takeover. I suppose this adds realism to the fact that we wouldn’t know why or what but it would’ve been nice to at least touch on the source of the aliens or something to that degree so as not to give exposition for literally why they came. Also, there were a handful of repetitious sequences between aliens and military that could’ve been altered just slightly to remain fresh enough to where I didn’t notice it so blatantly.

Needless to say, the visuals were the supreme highlight, and judging from who wrote the film, I would say the film was written around some great effects they came up with in their spare time because the dialogue is fairly amateur. Thankfully there are only a number of facepalm acting moments. Other than that, it’s just a usual script with the same mistakes you’d find in an intro-screenwriting classmate’s work.

On that note, the film did give us something to talk about. The power and technology of the aliens is rather daunting, moreso than before, and especially because of the last scene I feel that a new chapter in alien philosophy could be approached. There’s nothing more I can say without giving away the handful of secrets, but it’s thought provoking enough to the point where I wondered if it could be commenting on, the possible outcome of searching for aliens ourselves, or, again because of the last scene, our universal attitude and where our minds can lead other beings. It’s safe to say AVP: R was a joke compared to this…but it was a joke anyway.


5.5/10

[Fialynn]

Good Review! I agree with you that the special effects were the best part, but I thought the military scenes were fine, esp the maneuvers.

I wasn't that disappointed with it, but I also didn't go in with great expectations. It delivered basically what everyone said it would, great special effects and mediocre plot / acting.

I didn't find it to be that much of an Independence Day rip off. I thought it was more of a cominbation of Independence Day, War of the Worlds and Cloverfield.

[planet news]

What's this about a thought provoking last scene. Gawd you are making me want to watch this thing now. Not that I wasn't going to want to for the effects alone. Good effects are never wasted, in my opinion.

[wintertriangles]

That was mostly me being an optimist, but that scene was interesting despite the rather poor 70 minutes previous to it (besides the effects). It's kinda like if your brain was inserted into the shell of a different species and you became that species. It's actually a great idea, but they did so little with it that it's aggravating.

[planet news]

I guess that's what they were doing with all the people they abducted?

[wintertriangles]

Yep...oh spoilers right.

[planet news]

I'm mostly interested in the possible comment.

So I don't get it, is the guy at the end a special case or do most people retain their consciousnesses?

[wintertriangles]

Because of his "will power" he chooses to take control of the "vessel"

[planet news]

Oh.

OH.

So, I suppose the aliens that use these brains can also assert their will onto the brain? And the guy at the end only won out in the battle of wills, even though it is his brain in the first place?

[wintertriangles]

You could say that ;)

[Powdered Water]

I thought it was pretty good. I'm a big fan of blue and there was plenty of blue in this movie.

Pretty damn decent FX too, it was a little boring in the middle but it had its moments.

[planet news]

So that assumes that a brain can be the subject of an outside will even when the source or origin of that will is, according to some (myself included), within or embodied by the brain itself. It makes sense that the human could have a will. It does not make sense that an alien could usurp that will with any other will in place of the human will for where would that will come? Where is the source of the alien will? The "vessel"?

Actually... what is the purpose of the human brain? Is it for, as in The Matrix, energy? Or is the brain itself meant to serve as a vessel for an alien consciousness?

[wintertriangles]

So that assumes that a brain can be the subject of an outside will even when the source or origin of that will is, according to some (myself included), within or embodied by the brain itself. It makes sense that the human could have a will. It does not make sense that an alien could usurp that will with any other will in place of the human will for where would that will come? Where is the source of the alien will? The "vessel"?

Actually... what is the purpose of the human brain? Is it for, as in The Matrix, energy? Or is the brain itself meant to serve as a vessel for an alien consciousness?I think the vessel is as empty as it's definition, therefore the alien will resides with the brain as would a human's. I only say brain and not "spirit" in this circumstance because it was the consciousness that played the major role in characterization of the vessel.

I think the purpose of the human brain is firstly unlocking knowledge about the tangible and intangible as well as using that knowledge to impress your personal ideas into your reality. Because of this I'm not sure a brain itself could be a vessel...unless you don't use it...then it's quite possible.

[planet news]

The vessel is a body or container for the brain exterior to the brain, correct? When the brain is added to the vessel, the alien emerges. In other words, an alien emerges from the union of the human brain and the alien vessel?

The will of the human or the character of the "person" expressed by the brain would seem to be contingent to the physical matter of the brain.

[wintertriangles]

The vessel is a body or container for the brain exterior to the brain, correct? When the brain is added to the vessel, the alien emerges. In other words, an alien emerges from the union of the human brain and the alien vessel?An alien, of alien skin, emerges, yes.
The will of the human or the character of the "person" expressed by the brain would seem to be contingent to the physical matter of the brain. Yes, but in love of being highly technical, would the literal physical matter of the brain be relevant to its mental contents? (assuming there aren't chunks missing or something)

[planet news]

My understanding is that the brain is the "most obvious" physical demarcation of a collection of various interconnected tissues. In "reality", it is hopelessly intertangled with the rest of the body in such a way that even the body and the brain have to be largely contingent.

As an organ, it's the arrangement of the electrical signals at any one point in time that expresses our consciousness through what is, by today's science and philosophy, a mysterious process.

Though the arrangement of the signals might seem capable of infinite recombinations, the tissues themselves are not alterable (unless surgery is implemented). The permanent state of the tissues is what preserves the concept of personality within us. Because everyone's tissues are different, we have certain tendencies of electrical arrangement, which mark our character tendencies.

In other words, without surgery, I cannot fathom a dramatic shift in character through exposure to a body alone, since much of the body's functions---if not nearly all---are related to the functioning of the brain.

There is none such a dramatic character shift as that of a human to alien, I would imagine!

[wintertriangles]

My understanding is that the brain is the "most obvious" physical demarcation of a collection of various interconnected tissues. In "reality", it is hopelessly intertangled with the rest of the body in such a way that even the body and the brain have to be largely contingent.

As an organ, it's the arrangement of the electrical signals at any one point in time that expresses our consciousness through what is, by today's science and philosophy, a mysterious process.

Though the arrangement of the signals might seem capable of infinite recombinations, the tissues themselves are not alterable (unless surgery is implemented). The permanent state of the tissues is what preserves the concept of personality within us. Because everyone's tissues are different, we have certain tendencies of electrical arrangement, which mark our character tendencies.

In other words, without surgery, I cannot fathom a dramatic shift in character through exposure to a body alone, since much of the body's functions---if not nearly all---are related to the functioning of the brain.

There is none such a dramatic character shift as that of a human to alien, I would imagine!This all makes me wonder how it was so seamless for the guy in the film to be in correspondence with the new body.

[planet news]

To preserve two separate tendencies at once within a single permanent arrangement of tissues seems impossible.

[wintertriangles]

Then the movie is flawed (even more). Lowering my rating.

[planet news]

I saw'd it real quick! (skipped a bunch of parts near the end 'cause it was late and I was only interested in the final scene anyway)

Nevertheless, the visual language of the film wins out in explaining to me the gist of what was happening. I think that the aliens in the film are using the brain more like a power source---similar to a heart---than a medium of consciousness transfer (or whatever!). One of the squid-like things (Matrix reference) seemed to have several brains inside of it... several hearts, making it capable of rejuvenation.

The aliens themselves seem to readily switch brains like, I dunno, old folks switch pacemakers.

Not sure if this is more accurate... however, I did enjoy it for what it was worth and wouldn't go any higher than a 6.0. I do feel they really downplayed interesting conversation for action during the "high-speed" tracking shot. I always thought the most heart-pounding, fascinating moments in similar films involved panicked discussion and speculation... I think this is what made Cloverfield so "ethereal".

All in all, effects were quite good, and you will be excited by them at times.

p.s. kid from Six Feet Under is innit

[Yoda]

Spoilers and all that...

I like the observation that the alien "suit" for lack of a better word must have a will of its own. Or, at least, it must have some sort of software that "wipes" the brain and installs some new goal or set of motivations. That second interpretation is what I lean towards.

Actually, the end makes me wonder if they're aliens at all. While there was certainly a biological component to some of them, they still just seemed to be bio-machines. I guessed the rough nature of the ending about 30-35 minutes in, because I noticed we hadn't yet see what the aliens "really" looked like, and I figured the most likely reason for this was that their real nature was the point of the obfuscation. And since their whole bag is abducting people, I assumed we'd find out in the end that the "aliens" inside the bio-machines were just people. It would've made for quite a dramatic reveal for Jerry to bust something open only to find his best friend in there.

But anyway, I'm pretty sure this species is not a species at all: it's just the Borg. They take existing intelligence, override it, and move on, consuming and devouring mindlessly. I rather like to think that there are all sorts of other species' brains running those things elsewhere, from previously conquered races.

That said, it's dumb that his brain glows a different color. I can go along with it in a thematic or symbolic sort of way, but I think it would've been sufficient to just have overtake it.

Speaking of which, though: why is he special? He didn't seem especially willful or strong or what have you. I guess that's going to be addressed in the sequel the creators say they had planned from the beginning.

[TheUsualSuspect]

Terrible flick that borrows too heavily from every other sci/fi flick out there. The aliens look like the martians from Independence Day, the spaceships look like the sentinels from The Matrix and the giant monster aliens look like they came right out of Starship Troopers. Does this movie do anything original? It was marketed as a big tent pole blockbuster film, but in reality it's a low budget flick disguised as a blockbuster.

I give credit the the directors, who financed the film themselves and did the special effects. Most of the budget....okay, 95% of the budget went towards the special effects. Next time, they need to write a good script and then do a second and third draft of it before they get all excited at what their imagination can cook up on a computer. Filmmaking is about story, if you have a good story, chances are you have a good film. If you have a film with a crappy story, but great special effects, chances are your film is still going to be crappy. The brothers were too focused on showing off their talent on their own terms that they forgot that movies are meant to be enjoyed.

Skyline is crappy.

[Saully]

I hated this movie. The Strause brothers are not very good directors in my opinion.

The Good:
Very good visual effects

The Bad:
1.The trailer basically shows you the entire movie
2. The aliens don't have any personality or history
3. The movie is filled with annoying dialogue
4. You don't care about the relationships or the friendships between the main characters
5. The aliens are harvesting people why... ? For their brains. Yep, brains...

Skyline didn't just suck... It really sucked.

2

.

[dvdmoviereviews]

I thought that Skyline was pretty poor to be honest and I just didn't get the ending. Either that or I fell asleep. LOL. Thought it was overhyped and the story was minimal at best. Good CGI however.

[DavyGun]

Just watched Skyline and have to say it was not a bad watch for a Sunday night film. I hadn't watched it because the bad reviews it got, example imdb with the 4.4/10 rating. A mean the acting wasn't the best but the effects where good and the storyline was good for an alien invasion film. I also liked the ending just when you though there was no hope for mankind, bang a wee twist in it for you.
What do you think of this film?

[Nausicaä]

I enjoyed it, nothing amazing but not as bad as people made it out to be. I prefer it to the disappointing Battle: Los Angeles that came out around the same time.

[Guaporense]

Battle: Los Angeles was quite weak indeed. Haven't watched Skyline and don't plan to watch it soon.

[n3wt]

I enjoyed it, wasnt amazing but its worth a watch. The visuals are great and the acting is also good. The visuals are very much the same as Battle:Los Angeles, could be the same visual company.

[The Rodent]

One of the worst films I've seen.

^n3wt is right though, it's the same company that did the effects on both Battle and Skyline. Sony Pictures (the guys behind Battle) even tried to sue because The Brothers Strause didn't tell them they were working on Skyline and were possibly using the same equipment that was used on Battle Los Angeles.


Neither film is worth watch tbh but Skyline just reminded me of every other sci-fi movie of the past 300 years... it's that much of a rip off.

[Guaporense]

Now I feel I need to watch it.

[The Rodent]

It's basically a bunch of Paris Hilton types who fight and argue while Nukes go off over American soil within minutes of the Aliens arriving.

:rolleyes:

[Guaporense]

Meh, I am tired of watching good movies. A bad movie also has the social function of making good movies look ever better through contrast.

For instance, I wouldn't have liked Spirited Away so much if I didn't watch the mediocre Unstoppable in the same day.

[The Rodent]

Here's my review from my thread...

Review #192, Movie #258
Skyline

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Skyline_Poster.jpg

Year Of Release
2010

Director
The Brothers Strause

Producer
The Brothers Strause, Kristian Andresen, Liam O'Donnell, Brett Ratner

Writer
Joshua Cordes, Liam O'Donnell

Cast
Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, David Zayas, Crystal Reed, Neil Hopkins and Donald Faison

Notes
Yet another product of Clone Wars... Skyline went head to head with Battle: Los Angeles... but this war was taken to the courts by Sony Pictures.
Hydraulx Filmz, the special effects company owned by The Brothers Strause, worked on both Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles... but Sony wasn't informed about Skyline by Greg and Colin Strause... Sony accused the Strause's of using resources gained from working with Sony, without their consent.
The accusations were later dropped, after Sony realised that no special effects used in Battle, were used in Skyline.


---


When hypnotic blue lights appear over Los Angeles, a small group of 30-somethings have to hide and run from what appears to be an alien invasion.
When it transpires that the aliens are an almost all powerful force... the survivors must find a new way of escaping this new threat to humanity.

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q552/The-Rodent/Skyline4_zpsf66ce1b8.jpg

Bit of an odd one this. What could have been great, sadly is just a badly written and acted bog standard alien sci-fi film.

Plus there are piles and piles of reused/stolen ideas from other sci-fi films, books and stories, just packaged in new effects blankets...

... there's been many references from other Critics etc, to Transformers, Cloverfield and Independence Day...

... but I spotted ideas from Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, The Matrix Trilogy, Terminator Salvation and District 9...
Even the brain removal thing reminded me of Starship Troopers.

Bad form.

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q552/The-Rodent/Skyline1_zps18ea2e20.jpg

The general character writing is poor too. There's little to keep the attention of the viewer, the characters involved are written so one dimensionally that they came across to me as just shallow, money-oriented It People... basically the kind of people that everyone hates.

Even the scripting and dialogue is poorly written. The various arguments between the main couple of characters and their reasons for arguing are laughable. Shall we stay, shall we run kinda arguments and it's all so completely unrealistic, it becomes unintentionally funny.

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q552/The-Rodent/Skyline2_zps29ae0076.jpg

The storyline and general plot are, basically, all based around what can be achieved with CGI... and like I said, if you've seen any of the films I mentioned above, you've seen it all before. I mean, even Transformers had a better plotline tbh...
There's also pretty bad writing throughout in terms of Humanity's reactions to the alien invasion...

... when the aliens attack, the military sees fit to immediately use Nukes... I mean, really? So soon? Without enough time to deliberate whether or not they should be used over American soil?

Come on... really?

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q552/The-Rodent/Skyline3_zpse1011dfe.jpg

As for the acting.
The best on show is Eric Balfour... he holds the role together well and seems comfortable in the action... but he does slip from time to time and seems out of his depth when he has to actually act tough.

Backup comes from Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel, David Zayas, Crystal Reed, Neil Hopkins and Donald "Scrubs" Faison.

All of whom are pretty wooden throughout and recite their lines as if they haven't had enough time to rehearse them... even Faison, an actor I like, is completely off form and wooden.

http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q552/The-Rodent/Skyline5_zps4eec4730.jpg

The effects are top notch though. They're extremely well rendered and realistic. They're also highly stylised...

However, sadly, with most of the effects shots looking like something stolen from Transformers, Cloverfield, Independence Day, Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, The Matrix Trilogy, Terminator Salvation and District 9 and Starship Troopers, it makes the whole film just feel cheap.


---


All in all... not very original, not very exciting for a thriller-actioner... not well acted at all...
Fans of CGI will like it, but then again if you're a fan of CGI films, or, well any films really, you'll spot the many many reused ideas a mile off.

Worth a look for the effects rendering only.

My rating: 7%
http://i1163.photobucket.com/albums/q552/The-Rodent/RodentStampRejected_zps28afaa10.jpg

[Guaporense]

Whoa. It must really stink.

[The Gunslinger45]

7%? Damn!

[Deadite]

Yep, it blows. The people are annoying, their dialogue is dull, the CGI alien stuff all looks derivative of other movies, there's really no story to it since it's a bunch of shallow nobodies doing very little until the set-up for Skyline 2, and so it all drags on and on because you're stuck watching poor performances by actors playing poorly written characters reciting poorly written dialogue.

It looks kinda pretty. And the ending is kinda interesting. That's about it.

[The Rodent]

That's for the effects only... 7 out of 10. If they had utilised the effects better, it would have scored 10 out of 10... making it 10%

The rest of the film... writing, acting, casting, plot etc... is a solid 0% across the board. Pathetic film.

[n3wt]

Yep, it blows. The people are annoying, their dialogue is dull, the CGI alien stuff all looks derivative of other movies, there's really no story to it since it's a bunch of shallow nobodies doing very little until the set-up for Skyline 2, and so it all drags on and on because you're stuck watching poor performances by actors playing poorly written characters reciting poorly written dialogue.

It looks kinda pretty. And the ending is kinda interesting. That's about it.

I forgot about the ending, that was pretty decent I thought.

[Guaporense]

Finished watching it, really awful, one of the worst movies I ever watched. wintertriangles was very generous giving 5.5, it's a 0 or maybe 0_5 movie across the board.