Beyond Skyline – Bigger and More Ambitious
Director: Liam O’Donnell
Writer: Liam O’Donnell (Screenplay)
Starring: Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Jonny Weston, Callan Mulvey, Antonio Fargas, Pamelyn Chee, Yayan Ruhian, Jacob Vargas, Iko Uwais
Plot: A tough-as-nails detective embarks on a relentless pursuit to free his son from a nightmarish alien warship.
Runtime: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Beyond Skyline starts when tough detective Mark (Grillo) needs to bail his son Trent (Weston) out of jail, using his position of power, the journey home on the subway takes a turn though. The aliens attack, leaving them trapped beneath the action, looking for a way to the surface.
When Mark is sucked up into the ship with the other survivors, he will look to try and find a way to escape, before finding himself in a battle with a known enemy to defeat the aliens once and for all.
Thoughts on Beyond Skyline
Characters & Performances – Mark is a tough alcoholic detective that is bailing his son out once again, he is trying to rebuild their relationship after the death of his wife. When the aliens invade, he must look to put up a fight against them to try and save his son and humanity. Frank Grillo has made his name in this action style movies and here he is everything you want him to be through the film. Audrey is one of the other survivors that joins Mark, she does have the protection job of the baby he rescues, never letting anyone or anything get near them. Bojana Novakovic gives us the strong fighting in this role, while letting the action stars take center stage. Sua is a fighter in Laos that the survivors meet, he doesn’t like Americans, but when it comes to fighting back, he will not stop fighting to save his people. Iko Uwais is one of the best modern day action stars, here he shows us just why he is so popular. We do get to meet other survivors along the way, each person will have their part to play in the fight for survival, giving this film a more flushed out cast of characters to support.
Story – The story here follows a different group of survivors who are looking to fight back against the alien invasion, this time diving more into what we learnt from the first film, leading to a bigger battle against the alien invaders. This might well start in the same manner, with the idea of an everyday problem being discussed before the alien invasion, but the fighting back feels bigger, we learn more about what is going on within the alien world too. While the world created does feel bigger, it does however fall into nearly everything we have seen before when it comes to fighting off an alien invasion, with one big mystery which is the most focal point of the film, the baby’s growth.
Themes – Beyond Skyline still maintains the brilliant special effects created to make each attack look the way it does, keeping up the blinding light to strike fear into people too. For the horror, it does seem to drop more into the pure sci-fi action, with big fights, futuristic weapons and big monsters, everything you could see coming if you want a movie to move on a build on its universe. The change of setting is interesting too, with the idea that an ancient temple will be based against the futuristic aliens.
Beyond Skyline does develop the characters a lot better, continues to have strong special effects, but loses some of the unique aspects of the story.
