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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

From directing duo The Brothers Strause (Alien v. Predator: Requiem) comes Skyline, wherein malicious aliens descend upon Los Angeles, and some other assorted cities around the world. A group of pretty TV actors (Eric Balfour, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel) do what they can to avoid being crushed beneath the feet of giant robots, and yell at each other to “Run!”

If you’re going to make an SF movie like this, you can get away with the story being dumb and derivative if the FX are still cool, but these FX are not very cool at all. The little blue balls of lightning bring to mind Walter Hill’s legendary disaster Supernova rather than any better, more successful movie. And while a couple of the shots in the trailer suggest homages to Ridley Scott and Steven Spielberg (who need no introduction to SF fans), it seems more like a desperate grab for credibility than a legit thematic or aesthetic connection. The shots of the spaceships suggest a slicker, higher-budget tip of the hat to District 9, and the whole thing that made District 9 great was that it wasn’t slick or particularly high budget.

While it’s impossible to get a complete impression of a movie’s quality from its trailer, Skyline nonetheless fails to impress in any way whatsoever. If you’re an SF fan, you get the impression: you’ve seen this movie before. Lots of times. And it’s been better. Lots of times.


Danny Bowes is a playwright, filmmaker and blogger. He is also a contributor to nytheatre.com and Premiere.com.

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