Media

Home Theater Movie Renter's Guide - March, 2011

"Skyline" (Blu-ray) - Reviewed by Jim Milton

Synopsis

It was supposed to be a simple birthday weekend in Southern California. But when sunrise arrives two hours early in the form of a haunting light from an unknown source, a group of friends watch in terror as people across the city are drawn outside and swept into massive alien ships that have blotted out the L.A. skyline. From tankers to drones and hydra-like extraterrestrials, the aliens are inescapable and seemingly indestructible. Now, it will take every survival instinct the group has to elude capture in this riveting, action-packed sci-fi adventure starring Eric Balfour (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre), Donald Faison ("Scrubs") and Scottie Thompson (Star Trek).

Commentary

The first two thirds of this movie are boring with bad acting. The last third is the most ridiculous ending I have seen in years (and I have seen my share of bad endings, too). The lines are cliched and the few minor sub plots are inane. Is the middle of an alien invasion a good time to be mad at your boyfriend for sleeping with your best friend? The plot is simple: aliens come to Earth to turn us into zombies and, yes, eat our brains. When the “hero” has his brain eaten, he takes over the alien’s body somehow and rescues his pregnant girlfriend. Oh drat! I spoiled the ending for you. You know a movie is bad when you keep checking your e-mail on your phone during the action scenes. Avoid this lame movie as it is a no-brainer...in the bad sense.

Technical

As bad as the movie plot and acting were, the picture quality was pretty good. The picture had that “blown out" look in the out door scenes and the darker scenes looked grainy with grey shadows. Nothing special here. The audio, however, was very good with lots of surround fly-overs and explosions. Bass was very prominent with the soundtrack and battle scenes. Very good fidelity and the dialog was clear, even though silly.

Extras

Commentaries and trailers.

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Spectral Analysis