Another End of the World

Skyline is freakier than reviews have generally given it credit for. An idyllic LA party setting reminiscent of Cloverfield is suddenly turned into the hotspot for an alien attack. Elaine (Scottie Thompson) and Jarrod (Eric Balfour) have flown in to LA for friend Terry's (Donald Faison) birthday party. The night of the party, a strange alien attack – lights that draw people like moths to a flame – and then absorb them whole in spaceships – decimates the group. An attempt to escape to the boats proves futile – the group endeavors to survive in the building but does not last long. Well, almost all. The movie has a District 9 – style ending with Jarrod (or more accurately Jarrod’s brain) still retaining “human” characteristics – in particular, his protective instincts for Elaine. The movie borrows liberally – too liberally – from anything and everything from War of the Worlds (probes drawing in humans) to Independence Day (multiple-city alien landings, aerial attacks including survival of a nuclear attack) to The Matrix (intelligent probes searching for humans) – but in the end the Strause Brothers do manage to leave a sense of near-unmitigated hopelessness that is all its own

11.5/20