Bullet Points: Skylines
The Skyline Cinematic Universe is one of the oddest in all of action cinema. Skyline (2010) was universally panned. People made jokes about how awful it was. I have a friend who wanted to divorce his wife because she liked it. (At the very least he wrote a joke review saying he was filing for a divorce.) Who wanted a sequel to this hot mess? Well, Beyond Skyline (2017) took the action world by surprise. Most liked it, and a lot of people loved it. I think a lot had to do with casting Frank Grillo and Iko Uwais and using them correctly. A point scored for director, Liam O’Donnell. Now it is 2020. There’s another Skyline film directed by O’Donnell. This time we are going to call it Skylines or as I like to call it: Skylin3s. Is the 3rd time really a charm?
- The Plot: No Grillo. No Iko. However, we do have Rose Corley (Lindsey Morgan) returning. She of course is the daughter of Grillo’s character, and she is half-human / half-alien. She looks human, but she has some pretty rad alien powers. Unfortunately, she lost her powers because of an unfortunate event that killed a lot of innocent people. Now, with her full blown alien brother, Trent, and a squad of mercenaries led by Daniel Bernhardt, Rose must find a way to get her powers back and save all of humanity. Sounds easy enough.
- The Jiu Jitsu Factor: I think a lot of people will say Skylines is what Jiu Jitsu should’ve been. Both movies have a hype train. Jiu Jitsu left many disappointed. Believe me, I’ve read the comments on our site review. However, while I didn’t love Jiu Jitsu, I get what it was trying to do: Entertain the audience with a wild and crazy adventure. Skylines in my opinion is an overall better film than Jiu Jitsu. But, it is not like it is the greatest action movie of all time. Let’s slow down just a bit. We watch movies to be entertained, and I’m happy to say Skylines entertained me. I’m very interested to see the overall reaction of Skylines. Will the average action lover embrace it? I think so, but Skylines definitely has faults. At times it looks like a green screen nightmare machine. The effects are good, but not great. A lot of the actors are stunt first, act second. I’m cool with that. I like watching stunt performers act too. They deserve the chance to shine.
- Closing Point: If you’re excited for Skylines, I think you will not be disappointed. The action is fun. The story has a plot, and the actors do their best. I can honestly say I like how it ended, and I’m looking forward to what is next for this series. How many Skyline films will we see? Only time will tell.
Bonus Bullet Points…
- MVP: Daniel Bernhardt. This man still has it. He steals the movie for me. He is truly an under appreciated action actor.
- Mad Dog: Yayan Ruhian aka Mad Dog from The Raid is back. He was in Beyond Skyline, but I’m not sure if he is playing the same character. Who cares! He looks like a boss.
- Alien Speak: Do you speak alien? Let me know in the comment section below.
- Coming Soon: Vertical Entertainment will release Skylines in select Theaters, Drive-ins, On Demand and Digital, Friday December 18th!
