First of all: Skylines, the film, has absolutely nothing to do with the unfortunately discontinued German Netflix series Skylines. Even if I would absolutely trust this science fiction series to incorporate music interludes at some point. Skylines is the third part of an alien adventure with a lot of B-movie charman anything goes mentality and a visible joy in getting everything out of a small budget.
The Fast and Furious of the Sci-Fi series
In another article, I called Skyline the Fast and Furious of sci-fi movies, and for a simple reason. Since the series’ first entry, 2010’s Skyline, she’s completely transformed. Not a particularly watchable film, this Skyline had a generic alien invasion storyline that made World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles look like a Shakespearean adaptation.
Seven years later, screenwriter Liam O’Donnell took the director’s chair and delivered a beautifully chaotic re-imagining of the sequel, Beyond Skyline, in which the aliens were fought with down-to-earth martial arts action. Even The Raid star Iko Uwais starred.
Skylines is the third part in a series, but you don’t need any prior knowledge
Skylines now takes place around five years after the events of the last film. After the invasion attempt and the resistance, humanity lives among the ruins of its big cities together with human-alien hybrids. As a virus spreads, bringing the hybrids under the control of the alien invaders, A team of mercenaries heads to the alien menace’s home planet to save Earth.
Or something like that.
The mythology of the Skyline series has gotten so complex that I’ve lost track (yes, I’ve seen those movies). What I remember though: once the crew crashes on the planet, a hard-hitting B-movie twist on James Cameron’s Aliens returns, which exposes a small group of fighters on an alien planet full of dangers. This is staged extremely competently and filled with creative action ideas.
You really don’t need to know more about skylines. After starting off as a wannabe invasion blockbuster, Liam O’Donnell has a cracking turn sci-fi action franchise that shows its love of the genre in the casting too. The cast of this action-adventure, in addition to leading lady Lindsey Morgan (The 100), includes Matrix agent Daniel Bernhardt, Underworld star Rhona Mitra, Game of Thrones veteran James Cosmo and fellow GOT and Deep Space Nine doctor Alexander Siddig.
So if you want to be showered with expert action and lots of familiar faces, Skylines is the place for you.
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