Skyline

A few hours before sunrise, several blue beams of light descend all throughout Los Angeles. In one penthouse, several recovering partygoers slowly awaken either to the ground rumbling or to the blinding light. Opening the blinds, one man suddenly becomes entranced by the beautiful blue glow. Despite one female’s pleads and screams, the mesmerized man continues to walk towards the beacon and suddenly vanishes.

The film then rewinds to the preceding fifteen hours to introduce Jarrod (Eric Balfour) and his girlfriend Elaine (Scottie Thompson). Both are heading out to L.A. to visit Terry, Jarrod’s friend, who has found success. Though Elaine and Jarrod are in awe of Terry’s lavish lifestyle, they all soon find themselves sharing the same fate, as the aliens quickly take over the city. In horror, they see the blue beams abducting defenseless humans by the hundreds. The friends must now figure out how to withstand the aliens’ alluring light and survive the catastrophic invasion.

Made on a low $10 million budget, “Skyline” has impressive CGI special effects. The aliens resemble the dominating Matrix machines, due to the likeness of their tentacles and bright lights. The disclosure for why the aliens invaded serves as a rather interesting twist. Unfortunately, the twist is only revealed within the last 15 minutes of the film. With the best part saved for last, the film’s demise is that the rest of it is filled with poorly written characters and low plot substance.

The characters of “Skyline” are flat, shallow archetypes. Some are immature, stubborn, and remain so throughout the film’s short run. The majority of the plot takes place in the penthouse, where the survivors spend most of their time either arguing over whether to escape by boat or by continuously looking through a telescope. Through the telescope, we see several scenes of the aliens’ continual human roundup or just how futile all kinds of explosions are against them. These repetitive cycles create a tedious showing.

Objectionable content

Overall, there are over 20 uses of profanity, including 11 sh*t and 2 GD. God and Jesus’ name is profaned at least 10 times.

The violence consists primarily of explosions and alien chases. Several characters suffer from convulsions when exposed to the extraterrestrial light. Decapitations are shown and the extracting of brains. While this is creepily disturbing, it remains rather bloodless.

Several women are shown in bikinis, and one is shown walking around in her panties. Elaine and Jarrod are not married, but she later finds she’s pregnant. There is also drinking and partying within the film. Worth mentioning is how the partying and pregnancy are shown in a negative light. Upon finding out about Elaine’s pregnancy, Jarrod is not thrilled since he had never given Elaine the commitment only a marriage possesses.

One of the elderly neighbors comments that the alien invasion is like a “GD rapture.” This is a completely contradictory, untruthful statement. The Rapture (the second coming of Christ) will definitely not be a damned event for Christians. Instead, it will be a glorious new beginning. When Jesus does return, he will descend from heaven with a loud trumpet call. The deceased believers in Christ will rise first, followed by the living followers of Christ. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul writes:

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command… and with the trumpet call of God, the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

The movie portrays the frailty of life. Once the phone lines go dead, Elaine becomes upset in not being able to tell her mother of her pregnancy. Though the Lord wishes all to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9), His Son will return again to judge the world. Not knowing when Jesus returns (Matt. 24:36), one must be always be vigilant and live as zealous followers of Christ. We must never become like the five foolish bridesmaids in the parable of Matthew 25:1-13.

Unlike other films that go over the top, “Skyline” has a gritty realism to it. The characters try to survive and simply wait around, not entirely sure what to do. This would have worked more in the film’s favor, if there had been better character development and more plot substance. The ending left the possibility of a sequel wide open. Will I see it? Not sure. But I can say this first film had me a bit bored and unengaged. Due to the objectionable content and low-film quality, I do not recommend “Skyline.”

Violence: Heavy to extreme / Profanity: Heavy / Sex/Nudity: Heavy (sex repeatedly strongly suggested, but not shown, including male/male oral)

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