Skyline – Blu-ray Review

The Film:

There’s this ridiculousness to Skyline at times, that some, well, maybe many won’t get. But we start on the basis of an alien invasion, so until CNN or Stephen Hawking proves that this stuff can or will happen, let’s not scoff at the film’s ridiculousness just yet. Skyline is perfectly fine for what it is: a brainless, sci-fi, campy movie, that sometimes feels like a CG love letter to the stuff Roger Corman once produced in the 1970s. Ham-fisted heroes. Corny dialogue. Cool monsters. It’s a modern day low budget ode to the drive-in low budget movies. So again, some, if not most, will absolutely hate Skyline, while a few others will love its campy charm.

The Brothers Strause, mostly known for their visual effects work and AvP: Requiem deliver on what they know best, which is a solid, entertaining action movie with spaceships and cool looking aliens. The film’s inception is interesting, and maybe could be a summer movie game changer. Made for $500k, with $9 million devoted to the digital FX, the film is a grand scale low budget take on the stuff Steven Spielberg no longer makes. For the time and budget, Skyline will raise an eyebrow or two, but for those who don’t care about the technical behind-the-scenes stuff, the film grabs the old Night of the Living Dead scenario of people caught in something and house themselves safe. Some want to leave, others want to stay. Been there, done that.

Skyline isn’t original, nor did it attempt to be. It’s fun when taken on a cheesy, popcorn-eating level, as most of the action and attitude displayed in the film, reminded me of why we love all of those schlocky Alien rip-offs Corman produced almost endlessly. We didn’t go to those to see them reinvent the wheel, but to deliver on what it promised. Skyline is another ID4, War of the Worlds, or heck, even Mars Attacks! Spielberg isn’t doing this films anymore, so we gotta take them anyway possible. Sure, it’s not that great, but it’s fun on a kaiju level, mixed with a silly twist -that some will groan at – but all in all, not even Stephen Hawking can mathematically conclude on why something like Skyline can amuse for 90 minutes.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Universal offers us a decent HD image. Most of the film looks hazy and murky, mostly because of budget and the source. I don’t remember it being unwatchable at the theaters, but it’s not exactly eye-catching in HD, though. Overall, it’s a quality HD print – far better than the uber-dark AvP: Requiem for the Brothers Strause (and Fox). But the DTS track, kills it. What a bombastic track! The bass is the most active element here, as we get plenty of deep low end. The rest of the sound design is equally as active. Good stuff.

Commentaries: The Brothers Strause provide one track, as the writers offer up another one. I guess if you hated the film – and many did – you might find both tracks to be apologetic and trying to redeem what they made. But, I sorta dug the film and both tracks are really informative, fun, quick, and since it’s a low budget FX film, most of the track is a How-to. Good stuff.

All extras are in HD.

Pre-Visualization shows some early CGI tests that would lead to the final product with optional commentary. The Deleted Scenes also have optional commentary, but the scenes are wisely cut, as are the two Alternate Scenes. A cool extra is the Trailers, which while are a standard on all discs, but here, we get audio commentaries over them, discussing the set-up and marketing. Cool! We round this all out with the typical BD-Live features.

The Film: Rating:

The Blu-ray: Rating: