Skyline Producers Respond to Criticism, Talks Skyline 2

So, uh, apparently not a whole lot of you people liked the Brothers Strause’s “Skyline”, if the comments in our review of the film are any indication. (Read them in all their hateful glory here.) I personally thought the film was okay, even entertaining to a point, but then again, I have very, very low expectations for a movie about invading aliens that suck their victims up through a vacuum into their motherships. Still, even I was a little displeased with the awful characters and seemingly pointless running around the building trying to escape “plot”.

In an interview with Cinematical, “Skyline” writers/producers Liam O’Donnell and Joshua Cordes took time out to defend their movie against the masses. The boys seem taken aback by the backlash, and seem to be going back and forth between acceptance and raging against the machine, and back again.

Was it the advertisement? Liam O’Donnell thinks it could have been:

First off, the movie was marketed as an ‘Independence Day’ action fest instead of what it is: ‘Night of the Living Dead’ in a penthouse with aliens instead of zombies. I think if we had played up some of the horror vibe and then showed glimpses of the bigger money shots — similar to the Comic Con trailer we cut — people’s expectations would be more in line with what we delivered.

As to the sequel, O’Donnell said this:

The sequel treatment is very ambitious and addresses a lot of the issues people have with ‘Skyline.’ It’s more character-driven, it’s not set in one location, it’s action-packed. We’re going to have to see how it plays out. International box office has been very strong. Russia alone was around $5.3 million last weekend. I think the film will play great on DVD and cable TV. And because our ending is so crazy even people that don’t like ‘Skyline’ have expressed interest in seeing the sequel. So in one form or another the story will be told.

It’s a pretty long and entertaining read, so I recommend giving it a spin.

Again, my biggest complaint about the film is really about involvement — specifically, the wrong focus to involve the audience. It’s not impossible to make a small, tightly budgeted alien invasion movie about a small group of people, but you have to actually have characters people CARE about it. More often than not, though, I felt like I was watching a VFX demo reel with an amateur college cast and a really silly script that seemed to exist purely to show off the special effects.

Anonymous
Excuse me Brother Strause who mentioned – our ending was so crazy, .. if by crazy you mean crazy as shit so that our head starts pooing gooey shit like those vagina looking aliens, then yes, your assumption is correct. But no, we the audience were not at all blown away by it, neither do we have a pinch of interest in knowing what the sequel will be like. Skyline was an abomination in the name of scifi and creativity. So please go back to doing SFX.
- anon guest
  speak for yourself
- Nofur Trunions
  Skyline was an excellent movie a lot better than Battlefield Los Angeles (like intergallactic water hounds that succumb to our bullets and the big machine that shoots ill guided rocket grenades that can only take down a car or bus…. ridiculous maybe we were their first attempt at conquering????) that had way over the top alien monster design and tech that was a lot better than “junk welded together” BLA. The harvesting of brains is superb! And THE ENDING…. has to be the BIGGEST HOLE EVER DUG at the end of a movie!!! Han Solo in Carbonite like doesn’t even register compared to this mess. I’ve seen a lot of scifi (I’m 58 years old) and I’m just waiting to see how they pull out a save for Part 2. I mean our hero and love story interest exists only in an alien monster vessel.
  If they can pull off the sequel with some good concepts (probably need some new ones – unheard of in scifi!) it will be an amazing thing to watch. Of course, I’m hoping for nothing like “they get sick from our sushi and die while our hero finds his body in a pile of bodies and finds the Transference Machine and runs it in reverse to get his body back.” Which is about typical Holywood scifi these days.
  So I say bring it and lets see how good you guys are. My guess is that the whole point of the movie was to demonstrate this “save” you already have in mind.
  Great Movie,
  Oh, and Battlefield Earth is a riot. It is ridiculous with an 8ft tall John Travolta running amok trying to steal his way to the top. A real hoot with babes and over the top Harrier pilots “just add water” and blow up their Home World all in the last battle. Hoo-Ahh!
  And anyone who shoots scenes with a wobbly hand held camera needs to be Skinned Alive before they are serious tortured. And that would be getting off easy….
- Nofur Trunions
  I think a lot of people slammed the ending because YOU SHOULD HAVE put a “See What Happens in SkyLine 2: Redemption” (or whatever you want to call it.)
  Anyone who slams the ending is basically ignorant and should not be dignified with any kind of “discussion.” (You can’t argue with a stone.)
  Frankly, without deus ex machina, I don’t see how you are going to get our two love birds back on the “same page” so to speak (!)
MeanBone
WARNING: Naughty language and spoilers!
My taste in movies apparently is defective, because I REALLY liked “Skyline.” And I really hated “Shakespeare in Love,” and that won Best Picture, so there you go. I guess in this kind of movie, I’m just not expecting Oscar-winning performances or insightful dialogue — these are supposed to be regular people, not particularly likeable or extraordinary, and they are faced with an impossible, un-fucking-believable situation. I see people complain because the characters do stupid shit. Guess what? A lot of people are stupid, and in this kind of crazy situation they’re going to do a lot of stupid shit. What did I like about “Skyline”? It struck me as brutally honest: If aliens really came here, it seems like this is the kind of shit they would probably pull. And we’re all going to die. Jeff Fucking Goldblum isn’t going to upload a virus into their computers. Joaquin Phoenix isn’t going to hit an alien with a baseball bat because Mel Gibson’s wife told him to before she died 5 years ago. The aliens aren’t going to catch a cold and all die, so Tom Cruise and his wife can work things out. No, the aliens are going to rip out our brains and use them to power up their shit, and we will all be well and truly fucked. Don’t like it? Then go watch “Love, Actually” or whatever it is that you enjoy.
- http://www.beyondhollywood.com/ Nix
  I like stupid genre sci-fi as much as the next guy, but those characters were just utter shit. By the way, the “Don’t like it, then go watch something else” line? Kinda hard to do when you already spent your money on the movie, huh?
  - MeanBone
    The fact that the characters were “just utter shit” should make you super-duper happy to see them get their brains reused as Duracells in the end, right? And true, you already spent your $$$, but at least in theaters around here, you can get up and go watch something else (hell, that’s how I saw the first “AvP” movie — walked out of “Anchorman” after about a half-hour). I guess I just didn’t feel tricked by the trailer or the marketing for “Skyline” and I wasn’t looking “character development” or “underlying themes” in this flick. I really enjoyed “Predators” and “Chronicles of Riddick” and “Alien: Resurrection” too, so what can I say? I’m a simple man with simple pleasures.
    - http://www.beyondhollywood.com/ Nix
      Nope, never wanted any such silly things as character development or underlying themes, but I also didn’t expect to have to sit through so much garbage character time with such garbage characters. “Battle: Los Angeles” looks like it’ll do the invasion correctly — putting us in the MIDDLE of it instead of peeking at it from an apartment suite.
- Karenaziz229
  Hello Meanbone:
  I absolutely loved this movie. Why? 1. dopey characters caught in a horrible situation running around like chickens etc. etc. 2. I don’t want Hamlet and Queen Ophelia running around, I want regular kind of dopey people, kind of like all of us running around. 3. Monsters that are really scary. 4. Then, something completely new. These monsters are unstoppable, they are really scary and there is no savior, no virus, no ammo, no nothing can stop them. It’s hopeless. In every sci fi movie when things get hopeless something saves the day. What is astonishing, revolutionary, and really surprising is that NOTHING saves the day. There is no saving, no hope, and just a horrible horrible fate that is really really horrible. The good guys get creamed, in fact, all the guys get creamed. Humanity is f****d (don’t know if I can use the real word) but good. Ok, I know there is the slightest glimmer of hope as apparently monster-Jared still remembers his girlfriend and seems to save her. A sequel? Yes, yes, yes. And, why has all the advertising for this film just disappeared. I remember the advertising as showing cool stuff, lights in the sky, tentacley looking creepy thing, nice looking men looking like they are going to kick alien ass. So, what is so horrible about that? I don’t get it. This is a great, even revolutionary movie. What other sci fi film has the hero’s head torn from his body, his brain extracted, and then put into one of the creepy alien robots. I also have lots of questions about ths film. Where can I get answers?
Warchild
MeanBone got it right!! I’m co-signing him. If aliens showed up in real life, the panic and pandemonium is going to have every single one of us here doing stupid shit in a completely futile effort to survive the end of the entire human race. But this is entertainment, and I like to be entertained so I didn’t expect much from this movie anyway.
Mswalker_2
I’m going to agree with that. Part of the problem was advertisement. People expected some academy award winning sci-fi film and it’s not that. They should have went in with expectations of a slasher flick, then they wouldn’t have been disappointed. I loved the film. I thought it was innovative and it did have a strong story, just not great dialog. And so what. Peoples expectations are just too damn high. Everyone wants a Spielberg or bay film. They should, really, be commending these guys on making this kind of movie for 10 million dollars. As soon as i heard that that was the budget, I knew exactly what kind of things to expect. And really I got a ton more than I thought I would. Personally, I am foaming at the mouth for the sequel. I think it’s going to be bad ass.
Caramba
It’s a cheap trick. They only had one script, but tried to make several movies out of it. So the first one we got was just running around, always getting into the same situation (crouching behind furniture, standing at a locked door with an alien approaching), the plot turning in circles until something happens in the last two minutes. And all the struggle was pointless, had they been sucked up right at the beginning, they’d been in the same situation. Just a setup for a sequel, and a very bad setup at that.
Iamrijasta
I dont think this a bad Movie with all those negatives given by so called critics.
This is really a good movie and i am really missed this in Box office.. I bought a DVD instead to watch this. But when i saw.. Its really breath taking.. giving wonderful action sequences and the Special effects.. Stunning i say..
If the sequel is getting ready i recommend a full 3D Movie.. so i can watch it will Live.
Godd luck and Hoping to get a great Sequel..
alienware
I thought this movie was fine, a solid 6 or even 7 out of 10. Simple but to the point. It didnt have the usual generic hollywood completely happy ending, so I thought that was a fresh change-although the whole thing in its style (end credit font/choice of music) did give the thing a bit of an mtv generation feel, lol. The aliens werent very original, you didnt find anything about them either, and there perhaps wasnt much character development, but the whole point to the movie was that you werent meant to know, that was the horror factor. At least it didnt feel like it went on for too long (see the new Karate Kid-which lacked any karate and went on for an hour longer than it shouldvezZzz). lol
Garcia, Portugal
Do not think so, I think the film is having an exaggerated criticism, particularly among people who dont like some sci-fi and more like the emotions and human interrelationships. The film is successful, transmits adrenaline, especially in parts where there is fighting back the invaders. The cast is a little cheap, but now we eat a lot worse movies and less criticism.
Is satisfactory, the path of good.
Calavera the alien puncher
LOVE IT !! and i demand the sequel,lol.
i think they covered all the angles, every time i find myself thinking “why don’t they go outside and run” guess what? a huge 30 feet monster was out there. why don’t they stay inside the staircase? guess again; and alien was coming up. Brutally bad ass, fighting aliens bare handed !!! Jarrod is the man. I was punching my legs in fury, woot.
Profile20012002
I Loved every moment of this film, it’s truely a wake up call for the realists of humans. Our military might was not enough to combat this aliens wow, truely a wake up call. Who is saying anything about the characters ? Na, not important, perhaps watching the film from their eyes is what the critics were complaining about but guess what, people would complain all they want for a change but not this one, they have no choice of escape. Humans driven down the bottom of the food chain is truely a food for thought. there is no escaping the ENTITY within those aliens….
KlaptrP
I am greatly amused that they felt the need to defend / explain this piece of junk. If you need to do that, then clearly you’re doing something very, very wrong. Besides this movie does nothing new and has no new ideas. It takes the “dead” franchise and replaces zombies with aliens, the farmhouse with del vista phase 4 and gives us a moronic ending….. Just so we can have a sequel
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=501145968 Jay de la Sotta
so you can say that “Skyline” is the Most expensive and pointless prologue. it had alot of pointless characters. the movie is a total prologue to wat will come.. i think this was pointless this movie should of been the first 15 minutes of part 2
Tony Scorcese
WTF? There is so much i want to say about the shitty movie, but i am not gonna waste my time anymore then i already have for the past one and a half hour.
Eturyu
I loved this movie! Maby its because my wife is due in July and i felt for the main guy, but all i expected from this film is good old fashioned “It Came From Outerspace!” kinda thing and thats wht i got. My only issue was that i wanted to see how it eneded straight away logged on to see if there was gonna be skyline 2, and my eyes popped at all the haters! so…..not only did i care about the charecters, i enjoyed the cheesey one linners (like when the hotel huy blew himself up), i found the scene when the Stealth bommer got through to nuke the mothership very Independence day, and i would most assuradley PAY to see the next one….hell, make it a trilogy! I can’t believe you guys diddn’t like it!
Leslie_gaea
I thought the over plot was interesting: alien invaders (half biological – part machine) utilizing existing life forms to colonize earth. You’ve never seen this on the big screen. The problem was in character development. No one cared about the characters. That’s where the filmed died. In capable hands this would have been a good movie. If you are a sci fi fan, you’ll still enjoy the movie. If there is a sequel, the producers should watch War of the Worlds, to understand character development and suspense.
Blah
AWSOME
SoClose
It was just the ending. Simply the ending. If it had ended with them kissing – would have been fine. A tragic ending, but it would have been an ending that worked. If it had gone on for another hour, it probably would have been fine as well. There was not enough in the ending for it to be considered a cliffhanger. Heck, even if it had just been her waking up – with a TBC – bam, would have been something there. As it was – would have to say that I highly recommend that anybody that is going to watch this, stop it while they are kissing and just walk away from the movie. Enjoy it for what it was – not what they tried to do with it in the final 15-20 minutes and failed miserably.
- Nofur Trunions
  You have to realize the ending was designed to be a cliffhanger into Part 2 which was planned from the start. I think it should have been made clear at the end of the movie “Watch for SKYLINE 2!” Seriously, not enough for a cliffhanger? Like our love interest guy has only a monster body and Earth has nothing that can stop these aliens? Well, I guess you could say all was lost, but I believe it IS a cliffhanger and the writers will pull some real cool rabbits out of their screen writing hat. I’m really looking for ward to see what they do!
Chrisjohnson44
I am looking forward to the sequel. I think the original showed more creativity than Battle LA, Cloverfield in many respects. As far as acting, if you cut out Will Smith and Harry Connick from Independence Day, the acting sucked there too…..I actually thought Balfour did a decent job as the lead in Skyline. The special effect were fantastic.
Lenchov71
bad acting, crappy characters, and terrible writing? of course, we go to see these types of movies for the special effects and action sequences. story line and characters are all side dishes to the main course, special effects and action sequences! stop comparing movies to real life. it’s FICTION! good movie, can’t wait to see the sequel.
Robchander
People were too harsh, I really enjoyed it! I was ready for what it was but too many think they’re critics and expect the movie to be some District 9 or other masterpiece of Sci-fi.
They expect too much! All it was meant to be was (and is) an entertaining fun popcorn movie, greta effects, tension and fun. I got it! Many didn’t, and poor them, but what the hell were they expecting to see after the trailers?Every one thinks they are Barry F’ing Norman!
Cinematech1
‘Skyline’ rocked! I loved it. The aliens were rad! Way better than ‘Battle; Los Angeles’ I can’t wait for the sequel. Do it… Do it.
Paulo F
Well for me was the best Sci-Fi Movie that come out for a long, long time.
Visuel amasing and as many people ware not smart to understand that this was only the first part.
I seen all the Sci-Fi Movies Battle LA was not one, District 9 suckt,Independence Day goofy, so
Cloverfield was better then any of them.
So please do the sequel for us that understand what good Sci-Fi is.
Manon657
duh…..