RELEASE: 18TH DECEMBER
Released back in 2010, independent, small-budget sci-fi disaster movie Skylines was broadly panned by critics. No one really expected it would receive a sequel and yet, seven years later, Beyond Skyline would introduce Frank Grillo as an LAPD Detective searching for his son amidst an alien invasion. Along the way, he rescues and becomes guardian to a mysterious child (later named Rose) who, though human, is supercharged with alien DNA that allows her to interact with their technology. The film’s epilogue sees a now-adult Rose readying herself to take on the alien invaders.
The third instalment of the franchise, Skylines (stylised as Skylin3s) now sees The 100‘s Lindsey Morgan reprise the role of Rose Corley, with events picking up just moments after Beyond Skyline‘s end. Rose leads humans into battle against the alien fleet; just as she is about to deliver the fatal blow against the mothership, though, she freezes. Her moment of hesitation costs thousands of people their lives.
The story then jumps forward five years, during which Rose has stayed in hiding, burdened by guilt over the lives lost. When she is found by General Radford (Alexander Siddig), he offers her a chance at redemption: join a group of elite soldiers on a stealth mission to the aliens’ home planet, in order to save what remains of the human race from a devastating disease. What ensues is an engaging, humour-filled action space romp which is sure to delight genre fans.
Morgan fronts Skylines with charisma and an unmistakeable action star magnetism. Sarah Connor with a softer side, Ellen Ripley with combat skills, or even Trinity without the sunglasses, Morgan’s Rose does not look out of place within the prestigious sci-fi heroine canon. The cast is rounded out with solid performances from Siddig, Jonathan Howard, Daniel Bernhardt, Rhona Mitra, and James Cosmo.
What lets this third entry down is the back-and-forth between events happening on Earth and the main action up in space. Where the latter steadily builds up to the movie’s eventual climax, the former serves only to bring the action to screeching halts without adding much to the narrative. Nonetheless, the space-set storyline is impressive enough to sustain the viewer throughout. With fantastic special effects, convincing alien designs and a stylish use of neon lighting, Skylines does not let its small budget get in the way of its vaulting ambitions. A fun, action-packed space caper led by a fantastic performance from Lindsey Morgan, Skylines is by far the most self-assured of the trilogy.
