Frank Corley is an LAPD detective who has enough to deal with; he is mourning the loss of his wife by crawling into a bottle while his teenage son Trent deals with loss by punching dudes in the face and getting arrested. Just as Frank is trying to tell Trent to get his shit together, the aliens attack LA.  What a bunch of inconsiderate dickheads, right? Now not only does Frank have his family issues to deal with, now he has to lead a band of plucky survivors to victory against the alien hordes.

    You’re probably thinking to yourself, “But Yeti, you’re a horror writer, why are you talking about an alien movie? That’s not horror.” Look dude, that was my initial thought too but c’mon man, it’s a race of aliens that harvests human brains to fuel their armies of slave robots. That shit is scary, dude. Seriously though, this movie is way outside my norm. The only thing I know to compare “Beyond Skyline” to is the Transformers franchise. Not because it’s a pile of dog shit packed full of wooden acting, explosions, product placement, and Megan Fox but because it is visually badass and has alien robots fucking shit up.  Like I said, outside my wheelhouse but let’s get into it anyway!

    Can we please get Liam O’Donnell a Michael Bay budget and an A-list cast? Seriously, “Beyond Skyline” is visually incredible; it definitely doesn’t look like an indie movie shot on a $20M budget. In fact, I believe that it could stand toe to toe with just about any big budget effects heavy movie out there. I suspect it has something to do with writer/director Liam O’Donnell’s experience as a visual effects artist but I could be wrong. But I doubt it.  It isn’t just the CGI in this movie that is impressive either, the fight choreography is on point; from knife fights to Wing Chun sequences, this movie delivers all the action you could want.

    “Beyond Skyline” isn’t just a pretty face. The acting is solid, the dialog is well written, and the narrative is an example of stellar storytelling. So often you see a movie that is basically a pretty pile of dog shit or that has a decent story and some good acting but all the effects are ugly. This one really found a balance and the final product was, all in all, a pleasant surprise for me.

    So, today I learned that sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone can be a good thing. If you’re into stories about the extinction of most of the human race, stunning visual effects, and have an hour and a half to kill, I highly recommend checking out “Beyond Skyline”.  You have no excuse not to watch it, it’s on Netflix, so It’s basically free. Stop binging Fraiser and watch something that doesn’t suck!

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2w1HMGaqFM&w=320&h=266]

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