Be it in books, television, or movies, I have always loved science fiction and fantasy. The genre(s) have always been home to a unique sense of wonder and creativity. Aliens, Monsters, Robots, Magic, you name it. Even the really bad installments in the genre(s) that pop up on the Syfy television channel – looking at you Mega Shark v Giant Octopus (2009) – are fun to watch in there own way.
Yet after I watched the heavily marketed alien invasion film Skyline back in 2010, I felt nothing but disappointment. Bad acting, a plot that’s been done before (War of the Worlds), and just awful writing put an interesting concept to bed considerably early. They even wasted the talents of Donald Faison! Nobody does that to Dr. Turkleton and gets away with it!
Now, one year after its release in 2017, I have learned that there was a sequel made, titled Beyond Skyline…and it actually wasn’t a bad B movie flick. While the original tried to be a serious monster movie, Beyond Skyline is far more self-aware of the stupid nature of alien brain-suckers. The synopsis and trailer below tell you pretty much all you need to know going into the movie.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDFhLavxY_8
Detective Mark Corley storms his way onto an alien spaceship to rescue his estranged son. When the ship crashes in Southeast Asia, he forges an alliance with a band of survivors to take back the planet once and for all.
The trailer looks like what I thought the original would be: a fun aliens vs humans romp. And Beyond Skyline delivers. Why? Like I said before though, the main difference is that this film is cognizant of its actions. That and it actually had action!
While most of the original film saw the main characters running away most of the time, only to be eventually caught and have their brains sucked out, Beyond Skyline actually had a fair bit interesting fight scenes. On top of that, the special effects were pretty decent. Not entirely too surprising considering the team behind it, Hydraulx, has plenty of experience; having worked on Captain America and The Avengers to name a few.
Like the 2010 version, the actors involve still portray pretty serious demeanor in Beyond Skyline. But while they don’t fully embrace the campy nature to the point of parody, Frank Grillo and the rest of the cast definitely give off a feeling that they know what they are saying is complete nonsense.
I would never have thought that I’d watch Skyline again, let alone actually enjoy a sequel. A huge factor when it comes to how I viewed this film can be chalked up to expectations too. I went in expecting it to be bad while trying to be good. Instead it was bad, but in an enjoyably ridiculous way.
If you like goofy, self-aware creature flicks, then Beyond Skyline may be a solid time waster this weekend.