Is Skyline Worth Watching?

A full review of the latest sci-fi action horror to hit the big screen. Is it worth watching? 




Is Skyline worth watching? Good question. My answer is a resounding...
YES


WHAT IT'S ABOUT
The main character Jarrod (Eric Balfour) travels to L.A. with his girlfriend Elaine. They are visiting Jarrod's best friend Turk--I mean Terry (Donald Faison) who is obviously more successful because he has an awesome penthouse and an annoying wife...In the middle of the night, the group of friends witness the beginnings of an alien invasion. Ships appear out of the sky emitting a blue light that controls people's minds and pulls them toward the large ships. The friends desperately try to escape being abducted by these dangerous creatures, but find out that the aliens are more resourceful (and dangerously relentless) than they could have imagined.


THE CRITICS
say that this movie sucks. This movie's metascore is...well 28/100. That's pretty bad...even the most standard B movies like this get scores at least above 40 and vary in the 50's. So why do they hate it? The movie is ambitious in a way that it combines good elements of alien invasion movies like Independence Day and even AVP, but critics find that the film lacks its own identity and is a brainless romp. 

I couldn't disagree more

WHAT I THINK

Look closely, those are people being sucked up

I went into this movie with medium expectations. I went in to be entertained. I wasn't expecting this to be a District 9, I just wanted to see a well-made disaster movie. This movie exceeded my expectations. I will say that the first 10 minutes of this film are difficult to suffer through. The buildup to the meat of the plot was sloppy and the acting was just awkward. Donald Faison was decent, but Eric Balfour was just plain difficult to watch with his mismatched timing. The movie flows very well though. Every aspect of

 the movie improved throughout. The acting continually got better, the action scenes got better, and the overall plot became more interesting. This movie takes you on a great ride, and has its share of memorable moments. This is a B+ movie. The (+) is for having a stellar ending that completely surprised me and my significant other (that's tough because she knows how to predict endings). While it borrows from other movies (this is directed by the Strause brothers after all), Skyline delivers a great movie escape. 


THE BEST PARTS
The scenes with the building manager (David Zayas) were standout performances. He was easily the best actor in the film and had the best one-liners. 

The best

The first half of the movie was more of a horror action thriller, which was good. The second half was the best part, however, because it was an all-out alien action movie.  

Did I mention the awesome ending?

THE WORST PARTS
The first 10 minutes, unfortunately. On their own, you would think it was produced by college kids. Also, the aliens are not always that imaginative. Some of them look pretty cool and terrifying and behave in a unique way, however, some of the aliens look like recycled designs straight from the video game Mass Effect. If you can get over that, you are in good shape.


THE VERDICT
You should give this movie a shot. Realistically, people are going to hate on it because it's not the deepest movie. Watch this move for what it is, an imaginative B movie with a B+ ending. This wasn't the best movie I've seen this year, but it was one of the best movie experiences.


--Ace
If you're interested in this movie, check out the full trailer


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