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Monday 22 November 2010

Skyline... My Thoughts!

Well, I liked it.

I liked it purely on a no-holds barred, entertaining aliens movie with lot's of effects and action basis.

In terms of plot, there is hardly any in the film, it's just one minute of tense atmosphere with a very small amount of poor dialogue in between, for the whole film basically. It's amazing to think that virtually the whole film was shot in/outside the Directors apartment, which is why the costs of the film were $500,000, and the effects were $10,000,000!

I think the weakness of the film is the dialogue, which is very stuttered at times, action sequence upon action sequence means that the film doesn't give the actors little time to develop their characters, as basically they're running from one thing to the next!

In some ways it reminded me of War Of The Worlds, (the remake) which a few other people have commented on I think, but it has even less character development than that. This I find strange, as the quality of people they got, is actually quite good. Eric Balfour, (of '24' no less!) and David Zayas, (of Dexter) should be expected to produce some good work, but the scripts they were given are very limited.

One thing that is slightly frustrating is that no questions that could be raised by the viewer are ever answered. Questions such as 'why the lights?', and 'where is the rest of the world?', and 'what are the invading species planning?', etc. Also it bugged me a bit that certain biological things happen to you if you stand in 'the light', but no clue was given as to what precisely that was. there was a lot to 'guess at' in the film, which from one point of view is good, as people can have endless discussions afterwards, and if you like that, then great! If, however you like your films to be clear and self-explanatory, then you might want to give this a miss! There is nothing in the film from the invaders perspective, it is all from the humans trying to survive, and perhaps this might be another weakness in the plot? Mind you, that seemed to work for Cloverfield? *shrugs*

About the ending of the film...

I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it, but a lot of people who have seen it reportedly don't like it. I have to say I thought it was really clever, and because it wasn't your usual 'happy ever after' ending, I liked it even more. Some film endings where the story neatly resolves, I do like that occasionally in film, but I thought in this case the fact that it doesn't, is really a strength. It made me want to watch the sequel, (if there is one!) to see what happens next. I think the ending can work either way; as a clever ending, or as preparation for a sequel. I think I would prefer a clever ending, but then the story of the invasion isn't resolved at all, which I personally don't have a problem with, but I think a lot of viewers would.

Overall, despite the weaknesses I've briefly outlined, if you're looking for an entertaining 'action alien invasion' film, this would be the one for you to go to. If you like your films to make you think, or if you enjoy exploring characterization in a film, this isn't the film for you.

I'd like to be sexist at this point and say I think it's more of a 'boys film' than a 'girls one'...

I thoroughly enjoyed it as a nice bit of escapism on a Saturday afternoon!

Thoughts?

6 comments:

  1. It's rare that I'll give a movie an 'awful' review - I can usually find something of interest, even if it's only of

    interest to me! Having just been to see Skyline however, I felt numbed and cheated - I hadn't paid, but I still felt I was

    owed some money back... With no likable characters, a 'plot' that goes from bad to worse to literally nothing.


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  2. Hello Jm good sir, I haven't seen this film yet, but when I was seeing the trailer it was reminding me of an 'independence day' of sorts, the problem with good old 'independence day', is that it gets neatly wrapped at the end, we win, hurrah! I'm thinking though, when it comes to film endings, the films 'cloverfieild' or 'the mist' had the whole rampaging monsters thing going on, but they had that rare commodity in the 'sad ending'. Endings that make you feel slightly depressed that it didn't all work out nice for the main characters, but refreshing in that the film makers chose the narrow path of the grim ending. I am intrigued, must watch(after HP of course)!
    The Stef.

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  3. Hello Mister Jm sir, I did post a comment but it didn't seem to like me! :o( Anyhoo, here goes again! I've been intrigued by the trailers I've seen for this film, sort of reminded me of 'independence day', the problem with good old 'independence day' is that it's all too neatly wrapped at the end, with the gung ho hurrah, we win! This is fine, I do like happy endings, but it's also quite refreshing when the film director takes the path less trodden, and ends a movie with a grim or sad ending. Notable examples for me, being 'cloverfield' and 'the mist', As potentially depressing as those endings were, I found them a welcome break from the norm! I am definitely intrigued by your comments on skyline and shall maybe go see it.....after HP of course!
    The Stef.

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  4. Hello Jm, just a test to see if my post will show up. Tried before but nothing has happened.
    The Stef.

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  5. Hi Stef, your comments will take a while to show up, because I have to accept them before they're posted here.

    (just a little check I have now so I can avoid situations with comments like I had the other day)

    I deleted quite a few comments from the other day as Mr Ponderist decided after agreeing that being personal and insulting wasn't the best way to conduct oneself on the blogosphere, that he would swear his head off at Eyan and insult him because of his comment on trolling... (er.... don't need to point out the irony of that!)

    So, it may take a while, (especially if I'm out like I was tonight!)but your comments will be posted I assure you! :-)

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  6. Thanks mister Jm, the ponderist is a bit of an odd ball me thinks! Never mind, I like your security check facility, is good! Hope you and Meg are well mate. I'm seeing HP on saturday, happy days! :o)
    The Stef

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