Skyline (2010)

*sigh*. The best way I can sum up Skyline is like this-it feels like an independent student film that somebody pumped a couple million into. And I’m not talking about the Reservoir Dogs or Donnie Darko kind of independent film, this is the kind of indie film that I can’t even reference because nobody except for the filmmaker and the filmmaker’s family have seen. Well, maybe I’m being too harsh. Actually, no. I’m not. If this film didn’t have the special effects, and was in a normal limited release for indies, even people like Roger Ebert would forget about the film three weeks later. And the film isn’t painfully bad. It’s just boring. It tries so desperately to be a hip alien invasion film, but it ends up as a movie with a bunch of hipsters running and screaming around their apartment while mildly interesting things happen outside and we get small glimpses of it. These movies are the kinds of movies that Mystery Science Theater 3000 made fun of all those brilliant years ago, just with a higher budget. The acting is still the same awful acting, the dialogue is as wooden as the tree I used to climb when I was five, and the direction feels like the Brothers Strause were asleep through half of it. Now, the duo had previously directed Alien Vs. Predator: Requiem, which I was smart enough to not even consider seeing. Before this, they were visual effects directors, and it shows here. The few moments in the film where you actually see the aliens are kind of fantastic. But they are definitely not enough to elevate the film from carrying a dull script, terrible acting, shaky camerawork, and sloppy directing. I saw the film on Netflix Instant (I have absolutely no idea when it is going to be off, so this review applies to the date that I am writing this, but I am assuming that by the time that it is off, you can find it at any library that carries movies. Probably a good five copies), and I really don’t even recommend that. The film isn’t so-bad-it’s-good, it’s just bad. Don’t even see it for free. I wouldn’t even see it again if someone paid me (actually, it depends on how much we’re talking here).
2/10