Skyline

Watching this after Battle: Los Angeles seemed like a good idea, good in that they are basically the same story, except Skyline is told from a civilian point of view. However, the film is far from good. 90% of the film takes place indoors, and we rarely see the aliens. We aren’t told why this invasion happening, other than the aliens seem to have a need for human brains. In retrospect, this ends up being a positive for the story since a civilian wouldn’t know what was going on either. It’s bleak and pointless, which may be closer to reality too. The better story is the behind the camera. Made for a ridiculously low budget, the film serves more as a feature length demo reel for Hydraulx (incidentally the same visual effects studio that worked on Battle: Los Angeles). If you look at the numbers, the film did make almost seven times its budget, so in that respect it was a success. Plus 95% of the budget went to Hydraulx to produce the visual effects. Clearly the winner is Hydraulx. The losers are you and I. I’m $12 poorer and had 94 minutes stolen from me.