Underrated as Hell!


I saw this tonight, expecting to laugh my way through its badness. I was shocked. This is a fine alien invasion movie, definitely not worthy of the hatred and negative reviews.

reply

It might have been better if they had finished it. No way is a set of stills being flashed through a satifactory way to end a film unless it's the year 1910.

reply

I agree with this. The video game still shots at the end were my only major complaint. Bad creative decision.

reply

Those would actually be called "dynamic action stills" and they were most definitely designed to hint at and set up a planned sequel.
There was nothing "video game"-like about them.

reply

[deleted]

i love this movie! saw it for the 1st time last nite & couldnt wait to see it again on SPIKE today. even my boyfriend likes it & he basically only watches guy movies like TED or the hangover (i hate both). this movie deserves way better than a 4, i gave it a 9. but then again, i like "LOOPER"

reply

I agree with you on this; but, I hated "Looper," which died, in my opinion, right after Bruce Willis shows up. Bruce should stay away from time travel movies, because I also hated "12 Monkeys" and Tom Cruise should stay away from them entirely.

reply

perhaps they were optimistic for sequel possibilities at first so they just left bits and hints of it in the stills.

reply

They could have ended it with the hero and his monstrously stupid girlfriend going into the ship without showing a juvenile flip card sequence and still had a sequel.

reply

Not necessarily. If the intention was to leave a teaser at the end of the film, showing the flip cards was important.

Yes, we do see the red brain look as if he is about to fight back, but that doesn't signal that there will be a strong resistance, but the flip cards do.

Skyline's ending is one of the best I've seen, up until the credits, and during the credits it's also very unique, and gives clear indication that the red brain was not jumped and killed right away. Can't wait for sequel.

reply

I might have been tempted to see a sequel if it had finished at the point I previously mentioned but after that flip card sequence with a red brain vs blue brains I'll give it a wide berth should it ever appear. I would rather see a 2nd series of "The Event" though that was a different sort of crap.

reply

I don't understand why everyone has such a problem with the ending to this film I thought it was fantastic, the movie as a whole was far better than everyone seems to make out, I found its take on the invasion idea to be incredibly refreshing, take a group of normal everyday people, not ridiculous all american super human super heroes, throw this unbelievable situation at them and see how they handle it, I loved the movie non-stop and the ending set it up perfectly for an amazing sequel. What the hell is all this about flip cards?? I remember the ending showing the guys brain getting put in an alien body and that he is able to resist and try to save his preggers mrs, what was so bad about it? I thought it was an excellent set up.

Live on Xbox 360 as Ultrapro

reply

Yep, I too was told it was crap and was pleasantly surprised. I had no problem with the ending either and I hope they do a sequel.

The big question is how did they do this film on an 11 mil budget?

reply

I don't understand the hate towards the ending either.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

reply

Dude, if there's anything I know, it's science fiction.

And I totally agree with you.

It's too bad people can't recognize that this movie had the guts to present a truly bold ending. Most of what I've seen in the last 20 years has obviously been watered down by focus groups. Thankfully, Skyline presented an ending worthy of a graphic novel under the complete control of the writer.

I can't believe some dude said that Independence Day and the Cruise version of War of the Worlds was better. Please!! ID and the 2000s WOTW were insipid compared to Skyline.

So, yeah. I hear ya man. I just hope that the film makers hear the positive comments and don't let the negative ones get to them.

reply

I JUST watched this movie and the ending didn't have flip card 'blue and red brain' sequence, it was decided before they finished the 'Live action sequence' (not sure if that's what its called). The brain was put in the creature and after a moment of fight between system and software, the red brain took over and went to go save girlfriend from the pregnant women area, whatever they did there. (Question, what did they do with kids? All we ever saw was adults). He fought off the creature, told her it was still him again and she called him by his name. Then when another creature came up to figure out what was going on it switched to your flip cards.

Ok, first of all there are holes in the following because I came into this movie with only about an hour left. I admit that straight up. I started watching when they saw the people being sucked up in droves yadda yadda stuff happens, before they try to drive away.

I wasn't a huge fan of the 'action-hero' style flip cards at the end of such a weak movie. It would have been better if the acting was better, at least then the decisions would have been more reasonable. The fight at the end between the guy with the apartment and keys and Eric Balfour (sp?)(he was the only one who did a decent job, in my opinion) didn't make much sense, why wouldn't he just let the guy and his girlfriend go? It's their choice, which was the smarter choice too, even if you didn't look at what happened later. I would have hid in an apartment without windows or only one to see what was going on and get some light in (but a really small one at that), personally.
I can't imagine watching the whole thing with commercials, it might have been better without. Marginally. Nothing could have made the acting better except the acting/actors. I saw enough as it was.



"I totally saw his wolf junk"

reply

Yes, we didn't expect to love the movie. It started out as an okay action-sci-fi but the ending elevated it into a solid satisfying movie.

with only minutes to react we've somehow been killed by a stick insect -- Londinieres

reply

Indeed, good film.

I saw the poor reviews and the odd slating but managed to avoid the story apart from know it was about aliens.

The first bit where it goe 15 hours earlier, I thought oh christ a boring long film about nothing but the skipped through those hours nice and quickly.

All in all, a good film.

Ignore the bad reviews and watch it on it's own merits. One of the best sci fi films I seen this year and better then any of those crap sci-fi channel films.

6.5 - 7 /10

reply

totally agree. i was surprised at how good this was. gave it a 7/10. very entertaining movie great effects.

reply

totally agree. i was surprised at how good this was. gave it a 7/10. very entertaining movie great effects.


Exactly the same for me. I watched it out of boredom, heard it was positively awful. I knew nothing about it other than it got abysmal ratings. It was actually a really good time. 7/10.

Aaah, buckle this.

reply

I agree, 7.0 for me too

reply

Agree with that rating.

I admit that my expectations were low, and also admit that I'm a big fan of video games, first person shooters especially. I think there is a place for movies that are basically video games where you don't control the toons, but essentially watch the action unfold. The acting was not great, but adequate (c'mon Dr. Turk, how can you not like him?). Seeing a 360 get crushed like that was memorable too. If the word "realism" can be used in a context like this, I do like the fact that humans have no chance against a civilization that has figured out interstellar travel once it comes to a brawl.

I doubt I'll watch it again, and I definitely would not have seen it in a theater, but since I'm already paying for the Netflix subscription, I don't regret having streamed it.

reply

Saw a lot of the bad reviews but sadly nothing on the thousand cable channels so watched it with IPad in hand. Not at all bad and certainly far better than all the sic-fi channel films. Thought the ending was a bit hokey but really well done and different. Don't know what people expect ...... I thought spieberg's war of the worlds was inferior compared to this film (heresy I know). At least no dysfunctional family kids in this film. Hated some of the characters but enjoyed the movie.

reply

In fact, I agree with you. TC's war of the Worlds has bigger plotholes and worst acting.

reply

Why do people often like terrible movies better when they see them on DVD? They weren't hoping for a good experience so they got what they expected and were pleased. Likewise, people went in and expected a flop, so they got what they expected and were pleased.

reply

I agree! Fantastic ending.

I don't understand the panning it got. I loved it.

reply

Underrated? Good. Leave this gem to the real fans.

reply

A GEM? wow, people truly have terrible tastes in movies.

The script was extremely lazy, I felt absolutely no love for any of the whiny bitchy characters in the entire movie. The movie if anything is just a typical Alien Invasion story told in such a boring fashion with characters who don't do *beep* until the very end.

reply

I can't believe how often people post the same thing about Skyline. They didn't care about the characters. LOL. WHO F-ING CARES ABOUT THE CHARACTERS.; They're alien feed. The FBI'd be sifting through alien droppings in order to identify the dead.

You people are missing the point of this movie. This movie, of course, and also the fact that it's a setup for something much bigger that will probably not even involved a bunch of human characters.

Because this is a directors vision put directly to the screen, instead of what usually happens someone has a n idea and then Hollywood dumbs it down and *beep* it all up, this is someones idea here that has actually made it to the screen relatively in tact. And people can't handle it because Will Smith isn't throwing out his one liners and their aren't any shots of the white house being blown up and the empire state building getting pwnd.

reply

LOL what?

I didn't get the point of this movie? So the movie was about the Aliens? Not the main character? hahahaha wow.

No it's the fact that they practically did nothing half the time, and no I don't blame the producers these 2 directors are just *beep* AVP R was even worse than Skyline.

Sure it aint Will Smith but at-least Independence Day and will smith made a terrible movie Much more entertaining than a boring piece of trash this one was.

ID was at-least competent in making likable characters with great and fun action sequences unlike a huge Bore of a movie this was.

That being said so was Battle LA a by far much more superior movie compared to Skyline.

reply

Battle LA was ok. Nice emotional experience in a can with that sappy score they shoved up our ass. I did get teary eyed during that heart to heart between the misunderstood captain and his jocks. That scene lasted 40 minutes longer than it needed to but still I get the point. And the aliens were using weaponry that was about 11 years further advanced than what we currently use on earth. So street cred for that.



Skyline, being just the prequel to what they had originally been working on, is a really cool movie despite it's actors.

Think about it. The movie was made independently in-house, without any financial backing from a major studio. So, they weren't able to afford a big name cast, or top notch writers. So the acting and the dialogue is only as could as it can be with what they had.

But, seeing as how the characters and writing in Skyline aren't as important to the big picture (which skyline is just a part of) as the ending of skyline, and what is to follow, yes you and everyone else did miss the point.

reply

And I have seen plenty of independent movies that are spades better than this piece of trash. And many other movies also fail because they make a movie too big for their own good.

Seeing as how CHARACTERS and WRITING in Skyline aren't important? wtf are you talking about? Missed the point? No lol I didn't miss the point, this movie was trying to be a serious movie with deep characters, writing.

And of course, that is what PEOPLE GO WATCH MOVIES FOR, this movie took itself entirely serious when it came down to writing and completely failed. if I wanted to go watch an action movie I would of went to go watch a good action movie, and even some of the best action movies don't need to be that deep but the characters are at-least likable and contain witty dialogue and appeal to the people who like the genre.

I've seen a lot of alien invasion movies and this is by far one of the worst big budget movies.

LoL what kind of MOVIE-goer are you? not a very good one.

And I've seen tons of independent movies that didn't have a big cast or known characters that are much better than this piece of crap.

And you know what? some independent movies are able to get celebrities even when it is LOW BUDGET.

Skyline did contain a few celebrities but they killed one off so early lol. Talk about using your star power to the full potential. This movie fails.

reply

[deleted]

The still shots were meant to indicate that the entire world was affected, not just LA. The movie definitely has a conclusion. Essentially, humanity loses.

Prof. Farnsworth: Oh. A lesson in not changing history from Mr. I'm-My-Own-Grandpa!

reply

I thought it was a load of tripe and should have been called, "People frantically running around a building, flailing their arms."

It started out good, but then it looked like the writers went to sleep as the majority of the movie became people running around a building. Not much of a plot there, and the characters in the film never developed. That was pretty much the sentiment of the audience I heard grumbling as they left the theater feeling cheated.

reply

I've heard little other than damning, scathing reviews of this movie. While it's geared towards the youth and/or somewhat simple-minded and was typical Hollywood folly, I rated it a 5.5/10. Which, on my rating scale means:

(Merely Okay) Very ordinary. They aren't completely worthless, but you can find numerous better choices.

Not quite deserving of the 4.5 rating it currently has on the IMDB.



Currently reading: The Hidden Reality - Brian Greene

reply

I have to permanently disagree with you on that point, Tedakin. It is _undeniably_ worthy of all the hatred and negative reviews.

In fact, it is like the PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE of the 21st century!

reply

The only category this movie is underrated in is that of 'worst movie of all time'. This film was steaming hot garbage, and I'm not one to hate on films really, I've seen plenty of rubbish but this film took the cake.

reply

I saw it last night and I liked it. Thought the ending reeked of "sequel", and I hope so; otherwise, it's a rather abrupt ending. And the flash card thing; did they perhaps run over budget, and this is what they were left with? Still liked it, though.


39vam vuijlbae (v.2)
Dance with me you little toad

reply

I guess you haven't watched other Alien movies to compare it with.

This movie was a headache.

reply

I agree with you, Enge1l02. TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON blew this mega-flop out of the water!

reply

Nah, I've weighed the good and the bad of this movie and come up with a 5 out of 10 rating, and I think that's being awfully generous to this "struggle" of a movie. I struggled to get through it and it struggled to be a decent movie...and it didn't quite make it.

Cobbling together an "ending" like it did, and having to sit through an hour-plus of ineffectual, unlikable, annoying characters is NOT the way to make a movie, my friend. By about half-way through the movie, I was cheering on the aliens, just wishing they'd assimilate the whiny, indecisive turds that I was forced to watch go cattle-like to their doom. I like Donald Faison, Eric Balfour, and Brittany Daniel, and the pregnant character-actress (Scottie Thompson, had to look her name up)...they're good actors/actresses, but I wish they hadn't thrown in with this lot, these producers/directors of such "inadequate-ness".

I give it a couple of stars in rating because I didn't turn it off before finishing it. A few more stars for visual styling and effects, but the rest (mainly the story and the whiny, ineffectual characters) make this movie fall flat on its sorry face. I don't like to waste my time and spend my money on something that is disappointing and pointless. I would have given it a slightly higher rating (maybe 6 stars out of 10) if the writers/production company had said, at the beginning of the movie, that "This movie will go nowhere, you will gain nothing from it, so here's your money back. Sorry to have gotten your hopes up that you were going to get to watch a good movie, but this is all we could come up with and we know it's crap." Yes, maybe 6 stars if they had spared me this waste of time/money.

The only thing I "expect" out of a movie is to be entertained, to NOT be disappointed, and to have gained something from it. The rest is just gravy. This movie had very little redeeming it from being utterly garbage. The more I think about it, the more I'd like to start reducing my rating.... Ugh. I won't be paying to watch the "sequel", I know that.

reply

[deleted]

SADLY UNDERRATED. I have seen many sci-fi alien flix YES I AM A SCI-FI junkie so Im allowed to critic. The ending blew me away! I just have to say that the whole concept of the story was great! The acting may not have been Oscar worthy but that doesn't make this a bad movie.. I cant believe that so many people didn't like this movie PURELY based off the fact that it didn't have a happy ending (humans win)sad ending (everyone dies) a common ENDING the audiences are used to..The ending had a very unique twist to it. Now most can say that this movie STEALS from other flix and is so NOT original but..honestly if they would just PAY ATTENTION to the film and leave the comparisons at home they would CLEARLY SEE HOW UNIQUE IT WAS.

You know, the audience just freaks out when they see something OUT OF THE NORM and if they don't understand it, they hate it..

Skyline 2 is in the works and I will be seeing it. :)


xlive Gamertag:Lady Fuzzy
www.myspace.com/fuzzyspalace
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2052657/

reply

Vastly underrated. If I ever see another big name Hollywood production where they spent mega amounts of money and didn't yet get any suspense or mystery or freshness into the story I'll compare it to this one that managed it all on a shoestring budget.

This is not a perfect movie, the actors are only average and a trifle dull much of the time. It's not a story where the characters are in control.
(It's that I'm sure that bothers a lot of the nay-Sayers more than they know.)

The effects, animation concepts and creativity, first rate. There are real thrills in this movie. Brilliant!

reply