Back in 2010, a small independent science-fiction movie called Skyline was released. It starred Eric Balfour and Scottie Thompson as a couple whose holiday to Los Angeles is derailed by an alien invasion involving strange lights that beam people aboard alien ships. Made for a modest budget, the film performed well enough, but most people believed it was a one off. Then in 2017 came a sequel no one expected, Beyond Skyline. This film followed Frank Grillo’s police detective as he desperately tried to rescue his son from one of the alien vessels. During his journey he became the protector of a strange child, Rose. Initially, the film followed the same pattern as the first, seemingly running parallel with the events of Skyline, but as it caught up with Skyline’s climax, the story took a complete left turn and transformed into a full-on martial arts heavy sci-fi actioner. Now, just three years, comes the third film in the series – Skylin3s.
Skylin3s picks up almost immediately after the ending of Beyond, the now grown-up Rose (Lindsey Morgan) heading up an epic space battle. During the battle, she freezes, her hesitation causing the deaths of thousands of allies. The story then jumps forwards several years from that moment, and fifteen years from the initial invasion, rejoining a now despondent Rose. After being taken into custody by the military she left behind, she finds herself tasked with a mission to take on the enemy in their home territory. Still racked with guilt from her last outing, Rose must face her demons or risk history repeating itself once more.
Having written all three films, and directed Beyond Skyline, filmmaker Liam O’Donnell once again returns to the directing chair. This time around, rather than shifting the story and tone, he keeps things very much within the traditional sci-fi space action world. It’s a good choice as the audience knows exactly what they’re in for, and with no strange surprises you can settle down and fully enjoy the movie. O’Donnell is clearly a fan of this particular type of film and proudly flags his geek flag with nods and homages to classics including Aliens, Pitch Black, and Starship Troopers. Occasionally these nods can become distracting, but it’s never long before O’Donnell draws you back in again.
Appearing in almost every scene is Lindsey Morgan as Rose. We saw her briefly in the epilogue of Beyond, but this time around she takes centre stage throughout. Morgan is best known for playing Raven Reyes in all seven seasons of The 100, and fans of the show will notice plenty of similarities between Rose and Raven. As alike as the pair are, they are though their own separate entities and as Rose, Morgan demonstrates a feriouscious physicality that we’ve not seen before. It’s an action heavy movie and she happily throws herself into everything that is launched at her, highlighting a potential future within the action genre. Part Sarah Connor, part Ellen Ripley, and part Resident Evil’s Alice, Rose is a warrior, but one that is emotionally open. Morgan’s performance is captivating and you can see and feel every emotion and thought Rose is experiencing through the slightest change of expression. She’s been putting in stellar performances in The 100 for years, but with Skylin3s she looks set to show her prowess to an entirely new audience.
A big point of frustration with Skylin3s comes in the form of an Earth-set side story. It stars Rhona Mitra as a doctor desperately trying to uncover the source, and cure, for a recent virus that is attacking the allied hybrids. Potentially built in as a directional option should a fourth film be put onto the table, it detracts from the main narrative a little too much. As the film reaches its climax, there’s a steady switch back and forth between Earth and the planet Cobalt; each time we jump to Earth the pacing sags and it takes the viewer away from the battle they actually want to be watching.
Boasting over 1200 visual effect shots, Skylin3s looks beautiful. It easily holds up to the bigger studio movies and makes the film look far more expensive than its budget. We get spaceships, new alien creatures, and a whole lot more, and each one is rendered beautifully. There’s also a nice visual play in terms of lighting and setting. Beyond Skyline had a lot of scenes in the bright daytime, Skylin3s switches that around and plays out mainly in the dark; be this aboard the dimly lit spaceship or the dark planet setting, everything has the appearance of nighttime. It’s subtle, but signifies further that this is a continuation from the previous film.
Without the tonal discord of the second film, Skylin3s gets straight down to the business of taking the viewer on an action heavy battle through space. A well rounded film, and potentially the strongest of the three, with Skylin3s, Liam O’Donnell lets his geek flag fly, and in doing so produces a thoroughly entertaining intergalactic action epic.
Skylin3s was reviewed at Arrow Video Frightfest Halloween.
Skylin3s
Summary
Lindsey Morgan shines in Liam O’Donnell’s action-packed science-fiction heavy jaunt through space.
