Skyline (PG-13)

Review:

Skyline, due to be released on DVD, was rated PG-13 by the MPAA.....I'm thinking it should have been rated R, for Ridiculous.

In this alien-invasion flick, the aliens are coming to take us away, ha-ha!  They need something that we have in order for them to live.....our brains!!!

The movie begins with old friends Jarrod (Eric Balfour) and Terry (Donald Faison, from Scrubs) reuniting in Terry's swank digs in L.A.  Terry is now a hot recording star, and has brought Jarrod, an artist, out to offer him a swank new job so that he, too, can afford swank new digs.  The problem(s)?  well, Terry is cheating on his wife, and Jarrod's girlfriend is newly preggers, which is freaking Jarrod out.  Oh, yeah, and Aliens are invading to take people's brains.

During the course of the movie, several other characters are introduced to us.  The plucky superintendant of the swank condo complex, a random couple from the parking garage...several people for us NOT to care too much about.  The group, after much soap-opera styled drama and debating, decides that they need to get to a boat and escape to the ocean (because the aliens will NEVER find them there!).   They are repeatedly attacked by the extra terrestrials on the way to the parking garage, and, after a few brains are consumed, decide that hiding in the apartment is a better plan.....no, wait, the aliens find them there, too (crazy how smart these aliens are!),  oh no!  Head for the boat again!  No, wait, the ROOF is the best plan!

I must say, by the end of the film, I was rooting for the aliens. 

There was not a single character in this film that I liked, despite the fact that I was predisposed to like the two main actors (I'm a big fan of Scrubs, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the first episode of which featured Eric Balfour).  They were all catty, obnoxious, rather stupid, and morally annoying, if not reprehensible.  The alien special effects were serviceable, but in no way amazing enough to even begin to give this epic monstrosity any kind of redemption.  In fact, the only interesting bit of the entire movie occurred during the closing credits! 

I give this plodding disappointment one out of five stars....and it only gets that one because the sound effects were kind of neat.

*

For the moms:
There is a lot of violence in this movie, both from the aliens ripping peoples' brains out and from people being generally nasty towards one another.  There are some highly charged situations in which the people are attempting to hide from the aliens that are rather intense. 

As far as sexuality is concerned, there are several situations involving characters having affairs, as well as a premarital pregnancy.  There isn't nudity, but there are scantily clad females.

There is a bit of language in this movie, but not enough to push it over into an R rating.  Lots of swearing as the characters run from the big-bad-brain-eaters.

The aliens are interesting, but very large, loud, and rather creepy.  They are not humanoid, but are much more "monster" like.

I really don't recommend this movie for anyone, child, teenager, or adult.  It had absolutely no redeeming values to it whatsoever.  However...

Boys might like this movie because the special effects and alien CGIs are pretty neat. The sound effects are also nice and loud and scary, which gives you a nice little adrenaline rush.

Girls might like this movie because......well, gosh. I honestly can't think of anything.  If your girls like sound effects and CGI,  that's pretty much all this movie offers!

Topics to Discuss:

While we don't have any threat of alien invasion (that we know of),  we do have other disasters that may occur. Discuss whether the characters were prepared or not for such an emergency. Discuss different ways that you can be prepared in case of emergency (or alien attack).

There are several examples of relationships in this movie.  Discuss how you can make a relationship work, and whether or not the characters had good relationships with one another.  Talk about how trusting one another can help during a crisis.