In the cinema: SKYLINE

A sci-fi movie about an alien invasion of the Earth? SKYLINE! COLOR ME THERE!

The plot: Hostile bio-mechanical aliens invade the Earth to harvest humans to use in their war machines. They suck humans into their mother-ships in bulk by using a light that hypnotizes us into wanting to be drawn in. Then they kinda vacuum us all in. The stragglers left behind are rounded up and herded by smaller vehicles.

The movie is from the perspective of, really one couple, Jarrod (Eric Belfour) and Elaine (Scottie Thompson). They visit some friends in LA just before the aliens show up. The rest of the movie is really about them trying to avoid the aliens' clutches.

What's good about the movie is the concept, the special effects, and Scottie Thompson. Damn is she hot! But the problem is that this movie has elements from so many other films in the genre (ID4, The Matrix, etc.) that you really feel like you're watching something else. I felt, "haven't I seen this before?" many times during the movie. Plus the characters are, mostly, vapid and you don't care about them. You almost cheer the aliens for capturing some of them. Then Jarrod turns into Superman and beats an alien to death with his fists, but couldn't even walk a minute later. WTF?!?! Inconsistencies really hurt the movie. The characters had awful dialogue, and usually no responses to diatribes among the group. Also, having indestructible enemies is a real downer. They NUKE a mother-ship, and it puts itself back together again. C'mon! An atomic warhead LIQUIFIES and VAPORIZES everything at ground zero. There wouldn't be anything to put back together.

When we went into the theater we discussed that we heard that they were already working on a sequel. We wondered on what grounds they felt that they already had to get cracking before seeing public response. That is, until we saw the movie and saw that it had NO ENDING. Yeah, left wide open. It was a completely unsatisfying experience.

I would suggest PASS ON THIS MOVIE. Wait for the sequel to come out and get them both on DVD. It'll be more fun and satisfying.

More on IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1564585/