Failed invasion

IT’S been too long between drinks in the earth-alien invasion movie stakes.
In fact, there’s been a real dearth of such films since “Independence Day” in the mid-’90s, unless you count the excellent “District 9” of last year.
This low-budget, high-CGI effort is directed by the Brothers Strause, whoever they may be, and clearly they’ve got some freaky stuff going on.
The aliens appear, bathed in a blue light in Los Angeles one fine morning, and it soon transpires that they’re after our brains. Mmmm … brains.
This seems fair enough; after all, we’re hardly using them, and particularly not when watching this film.
To this day, I remain uncertain as to whether the aliens are eating the brains, using them as a power source, or re-braining their own bodies. Anyhow, they want them quite badly, and much bad noise ensues.
One alien innovation is a combined claw and mouth arrangement that stuffs human bodies into its open maw. Nice.
Watch also for the scene in which drones and stealth fighters take on the alien mothership, with hugely disappointing results.
Overall, “Skyline” is a good concept and a valiant effort that fails to fire or inspire. – Jason Beck