Beyond Skyline

Starring: Frank Grillo, Bojana Kovakovic, Jonny Weston, Callan Mulvey, Antonio Fargas, Pamelyn Chee, Jacob Vargas
Directed by: Liam O'Donnell
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Science Fiction
2017

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A police detective (Frank Grillo) gets caught up in the alien invasion of Los Angeles.

Review:

Tim: I was horribly disappointed in Skyline, but I got sucked in again. This sequel looked just as bad, but it starred Frank Grillo. Could Grillo pull off another feat of making a sequel better than the first movie (check out The Purge and The Purge: Anarchy). went into this convinced that this sequel would be superior. It's not. Long stretches of the movie are almost unwatchable. There's a few redeeming qualities which help elevate the movie a bit, but this is still so much worse than the already bad first movie. This sequel effectively kills the franchise (I hope).

The movie takes place at the same time as the original, at least in the beginning. It was somewhat interesting to see the same events depicted from a different perspective. Not that I remembered much of the original, as I had to do some online research to remind myself what was going on. Still, it's a worthwhile attempt, rather than just making this a sequel that picks up right after the first one. It eventually gets to that point, but I still liked the beginning taking place at the same time as the original. Hey, I'm trying to find positives, okay?

Frank Grillo is always enjoyable. While his character is paper thin, it's still fun to see him do his thing. I don't know why I like Grillo so much, but it always brightens my day to see him in a film. He did make this movie better with his presence. It's critical that Grillo was here, because no one else in the cast matters at all. It's like they assembled the most forgettable C or D list actors they could get. Really, outside of Grillo, everyone is completely and thoroughly unremarkable.

I have to say that this movie had zero ability to hold my interest. I was continuously pulled away by any visual or mental distraction. No exaggeration, at one point I caught myself staring out of the window at trees swaying in the wind. That actually happened- watching trees in the wind was more compelling than stretches of this movie. And this movie is about an alien invasion. Something went horrendously wrong. Liam O'Donnell wrote the original movie and he writes again here, while also making his directorial debut. From what I've seen, O'Donnell should be barred from Hollywood. Based on the writing of two movies and the directing here, the guy is a hack. His characters are awful- we can't possibly care about any of them. His directing might actually be worse. This movie features one cliche after another. It was like all the worst parts of alien movies were brought into this one. Now, some of the special effects are pretty cool (which was one of the few strengths of the original), but that's not nearly enough to make up for a boring story and bland characters. This is simply a bad movie from start to finish.

I probably should have rated Beyond Skyline even lower, but I had an occasional decent moment watching Grillo in the midst of this alien invasion. Unfortunately, those fleeting moments didn't make this movie worthwhile. This film was so bad. If they actually make a third film, I honestly don't think I would watch it. That's extremely rare for me, but it speaks volumes about the quality of this film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Skyline