The Strause Brothers are still trying to find their stride as filmmakers, but two major movies with mostly negative reviews puts them face to face with a rotten tomato. While they have yet to respond to the criticisms regarding Skyline, the film’s writer/producer combo Liam O’Donnell and Joshua Cordes spoke out recently on the topic.
It is easy for a filmmaker to ignore the general public, but the two seem genuinely disappointed by the overall reaction to their space invasion film. Who wouldn’t be? Skyline is currently scoring a 4.7 on IMDb, 26 on Metacritic and 15% on Rotten Tomatoes. These low numbers are enhanced by a plethora of harsh reviews.
We didn’t necessarily feel the movie lived up to its potential. Even our 2 out of 5 stars review is generous considering the choice words from others about the film. But when we look back on Skyline in a few years, will it be the goofy, campy alien invasion tribute the producers seem to believe they’ve made?
In an interview with Cinematical, the producers opened up and responded to the general public distaste for Skyline. The overall tone is one of disappointment, but as the two backtrack on the film’s intent, I can’t help but wonder how many times we’ve heard this before – The Last Airbender, The Happening and Tommy Wiseau’s The Room come to mind (bit of a spoiler in the quotes below).
Liam O’Donnell – “It’s like being exposed to any kind of venom: it takes a while to build up your immunity. People tell you not to read the reviews but I tried to read every one… it was extremely painful initially but now I skip over a ‘Skyline. Worst. Movie. Ever.’ tweet without it even registering… We wanted to make a fun, spooky popcorn movie with brain sucking beasts from outer space — and I think we did that.”
Joshua Cordes – “Yeah, I was pretty floored by the response… And it hurt, because I love movies and people who love them, and were getting reactions like we made something that came out of some dark intentions. A soulless cash grab? Shamelessly capitalizing off the latest trends? Homogenized Oscar-bait? None of those were true… We wanted to make a fun, spooky popcorn movie with brain sucking beasts from outer space — and I think we did that.we had set out to make the movie we made, that embraced conventions that every invasion movie before us had adhered to, and then have fun with them.”
The initial promotion of Skyline was tough to read. But if the intention was to create an alien invasion movie like Piranha 3D, it didn’t seem that way until now.
Some of the criticisms Cordes refers to are a bit drastic – especially the “soulless cash grab.” Let’s consider the background of the filmmakers for a moment. They pursued a passion because they had the means and desire to do it.
Greg and Colin Strause on set with Scottie Thompson and Eric Balfour
Credit should always be given to filmmakers who finish a feature film. No matter the consequences or result, making a movie is difficult – in fact it is damn near impossible. Plenty of horrible movies have come before Skyline and plenty of worse ones will come in the future.
While the intense process of producing a feature is arduous, Cordes and O’Donnell actually downplay the amount of work put into Skyline. While I feel sorry for them at times in this interview, the following comments feel like a blame game.
Cordes -”Also, we wrote, shot, and did all the VFX on this film in under a year. The schedule was brutal and unfortunately didn’t allow us to test the film because it wasn’t finished until the last moment. We got backed into a release date and inevitably the film was hurt by it. Another lesson learned the hard way.”
The problem with making a weak film is dealing with the backlash. The two producers still care deeply about this project and their pride shows in the interview. But it is difficult to gauge this kind of a response, because you have to wonder what role they had as producers if they couldn’t control the production’s speed.
We’ve seen similar expedited productions end in failure. Transformers 2 was pushed through the production process due to a writer’s strike, but that is obviously not the only reason it was a “miss” (well, not at the box office – just in terms of the quality of the film). Surely, the speedy production didn’t help, but Skyline has far more problems than this.
Maybe the MPAA had something to do with it? According to the producers, Skyline was originally designed as an R-rated film, but the final PG-13 rating hurt the film’s initial tone.
O’Donnell – “It really is a dark, apocalyptic R-rated story trapped in a glossy PG-13 body. The original draft was written for an R but it wasn’t really over the top… But then once we got to the MPAA, we had a lot of trouble with the brain ripping shots… It’s a catch 22: if it were hard R, it definitely would have been more embraced by the horror and online critics. But in our exit polling kids under 17, boy and girls liked ‘Skyline’ the best.
Cordes – “Now I wish we’d just said screw it and made a bloodbath. Since we’re getting no street cred for going out and making a movie on our own, maybe the gorehounds could have given some love at that point.”
Of course the Strause brothers went hard R on Aliens vs Predators: Requiem and that didn’t seem to help that film much…
Even though the movie was ill-received, it is still a massive action film that calls for a sequel if possible. Made for only $10 million, Skyline has already made profit. The question that remains is whether or not the filmmakers will respond to the criticism within the sequel or simply follow their own dreams.
O’Donnell – “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.”
At the end of the day, Skyline will prove a financial success. It was marketed well, represented by a pair of major studios (Rogue and Universal) and tackles the latest trend in Hollywood – aliens.
Even amidst the controversy between Skyline and Battle: Los Angeles, they beat the handful of 2011 alien invasion movies to the punch. When audiences are moaning over the number of movies in the genre, Skyline will be sitting pretty on a shiny DVD and Blu-ray.
So here’s the thing… in the grand scheme of things, Skyline is a movie that should not be compared to the likes of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Regardless of the producers’ hindsight comments, the film has some entertainment value, and it is a huge, CGI movie made on a meager budget.
If 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' met 'Skyline'
If you have yet to see Skyline, try and have some fun with it. While I compared it to The Room earlier in this article, Skyline is nowhere near as bad as that movie. Don’t go into the theater looking for the best alien invasion movie of all time either. Next year will have plenty of potential films to take that claim.
If you have already seen Skyline, share your thoughts on the interview. Do you think this is a cop-out for a movie that went horribly wrong. Are their explanations justified and reasonable? More importantly, would you like to see them give it another try with Skyline 2?
Source: Cinematical
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Just watched it yesterday. I was so disturbed and perturbed by the scene and the idea hinted in the final minutes of the movie, i.e. all pregnant women zapped by the aliens must have experienced terrible pains and deaths, except jarrod’s girlfriend who seemingly would survive thanks to alien-turned jarrod’s (heroic?) act of fighting against his alien nature! anyway, I agree that the end is a bit shocking and it hints that Skyline 2 is coming around in the future. I myself would want to know how the story will continue…..
I think what dailycollegian.com said really sums up what I kept on thinking over watching the movie, except the ‘Sign’ thing that I never occurred to my mind.
Seriously people, lay off. It’s just a movie. So what if you spent 8$ to see it. It’s just art. No media/art is ever universally praised. Make your own epic film if you think you could do better. There are more than a thousand movies to choose from. Lay off.
Good dialog would have at least made me not cringe at every turn. The producers should admit they write badly, and just **pay for a good screenwriter**. They have an almost moral obligation to find first-class writing to go with those first-class vfx.
Liam acknowledged my earlier rant point by saying, ” And addressing someone else’s statement, I wrote the script so yes, you should be upset with me.”
That was brave as hell, and now I’m your fan.
I just watched Skyline and it is absolutely COOL! A bit weak in character-building but the storyline is good enough for me. It’s better than Cloverfield anytime! Liam, bring on Part 2! Ignore the rest, it’s just their opinion.
I was thinking, when all hope is lost but we still need to get rid of these aliens, why not introduce another alien species which come to Earth’s rescue. Cool! Something really original!
yeah, i like that idea. I for one would want to see the sequel.
Went to my local cinema last night to watch Skyline after many months of waiting.
I must say I was very disappointed and yet, felt disturbed at the same time.
The acting in my opinion was very second rate and I felt no compassion or connection for the cast.
The one character that really annoyed me most was the short guy with the tash, who couldn’t act to save his life! He was very, very annoying!
Dramatic lines with not an ounce of character and his obsession of keeping the other characters in the apartment was as annoying as the character in the re hash (and I use the word “hash” in its real sense) of War of the Worlds. you know the one… the weirdo in the cellar.
His best part of the film is when he blew himself up after a pathetic attempt with a empty lighter. At that point of the film, I wanted to throw mine and the big screen to get him off asap!
The one good thing about Skyline was the aliens themselves, harsh and brutal with no remorse.
Then ending was strange and opened up for a sequel, which would be pretty useless and the human race is pretty much extinct!
I honestly enjoyed the movie.
Did I go in expecting acting as good the screen presence in oceans 11? Hell no.
Did I go in expecting a easy going summer action thriller? Yes I did. And that’s exactly what I got.
The movie was great. The CGI were some of the best I’ve seen all year, especially considering your budget.
Everyone here is just talking out of there asses, nothing but a bunch of Pseudo Intellectuals.
I look forward to the sequel.
4/5
D2therJ
Ladies & Gentlemen, the American public has spoken! Greenlight everything these guys come up with,
from this day forward:
” The CGI were some of the best I’ve seen all year. … I look forward to the sequel. ” – D2therJ, Screenrant
I’m with you, man. The world NEEDS more badly written movies. What else are we gonna have on for midnight matinee on cable? What will Elvira have to Do with herself??
I want these guys to make so many movies, that movie critics just go silent.
6 / 5
p.s. I hope they succeed in their plan, and no one ends up seeing BATTLE: LOS ANGELES as a result of having already seen this movie. (nyuk, nyuk,nyuk)
Congratulations on further concreting my argument.
D2therJ
You did mine first. Congrats a million!
(I’m basically on both sides of this argument.
- I am NOT going to see this movie,
-I feel bad for people who expected more from it based on some poorly executed, well distributed advertising. The economy doesn’t help – movie theatres ain’t cheap!
-but at the same time – isn’t a horribly written alien invasion movie what we want every now & then?
- So yeah, I’d like to see more Mars Attacks or killing heaploads of douchebags for the sake of ridding the world of heaploads of douchebags – BUT
- Why are the filmmakers whining??? People PAID to see it! They’re in the Black to make more bad movies!
- One truth remains: SKYLINE absolutely is American indie cinema’s answer to District 9.
SKYLINE is the movie we DESERVE.
I have read enough reviews to keep me clear from watching this film.
All I heard was “Wahhh Wahhh, you guys didnt like our movie” and “we couldnt do it our way.” Jeez, what a bunch of crybabies. People need to start owning up to thier mistakes.
Agreed.
“SKYLINE is the movie we DESERVE.”
Sooo true!!!
I blame marketing for the failure and misunderstanding, because the trailers never made Skyline out to be “a fun, spooky popcorn movie with brain sucking beasts from outer space.” I would have enjoyed the movie much more if I hadn’t been mislead.
This film is the only way to describe what its like to live in Ireland at the moment, the big Aliens are the corrupt leaders and bankers who are sucking the life blood out of us and harvesting turning us into nothing,, screwing our future,, the makers of this film might get inspiration for a sequel from looking at ireland. if you want to know what it feels like to have have bad leadership in your country Go and see this film,, You just watch the big aliens when they suck the brains out of you , thats what our goverment and leadership is like….. we irish are resiliant , we will rise from the ashes like phenix,,we will come up again but first we must get rid of the big life sucking aliens like the irish goverment. Please will all of the irish americans call on the irish goverment to step down and give us elections so that we can change our skyline,,,, Ireland is a great country and we have great people we need you to keep investing keep making films in ireland, Oh America our for fathers and ancestors go back generations through bloodlines please help us your brothers and sisters of ireland call on you keep investing, we will get through this but please we can and we will rise Please put pressure on irish goverment all the irish americans please please please please please,please please we cant take anymore were begging you tell the Irish goverment that all the people in ireland have been looking for a change in goverment….
I’ve been to your country and fell in love it ~ truly an enchanted place.
Galway, Doolin, & Oinis Eire was my favorite leg of the trip, tho we
also played a show up in County Claire, in defense of a village where
SHELL is building an oil pipeline. Great people, so inspiring!
What’s happened to & is happening – ‘U.S. catches a cold, Ireland catches the flu’ is the
quote I was given, which seems to apply. It’s a real shame what poor leadership will do
to everyday working people just trying to have a good go at living their lives.
All I can say is the Irish are a great people, indeed.
They wouldn’t deserve to be sucked up into space the way all the douchebags in
this film apparently deserve to be.
They’d put up a real fight, full of pathos & even a dash of humor – and
an Irish fight w/ aliens would be something worth paying money to see!
I’d gladly invest money in a film like that – if I had that kinda discretionary dough –
rather than bombs out the gate like this one.
(Don’t feel bad, Brothers Strauss. If standards keep sinking as they’re wont to do – you
guys’ll soon be the most gifted filmmakers in ALL of America ! ;D )
I wont go ahead writing a very long paragraph or criticisim of how I think about it, cause n oone really cares.. my English even suck.. all I want to say clearly, that the movie was average, but the last minute of the movie is all what really is.. this movie have been made for that last minute. Ive got goosebumbs watching the last moment of the movie, Ive never predicted that it`d end this way, a superb turn of events.. now I can not freaken wait for the sequel, Im pretty damn sure that it will blow your heads off, will be one of the best Sci-Fi movies of all time.. it`s just too easy to write a very good script when you`ve got this beginning of the sequal with such unique turn of event, all hell break loose for ideas, an enormous fielf of possibilites waiting for this sequel, God I hope I could help wiriting the sequel!
Cant wait for it.. get it done YESTERDAY!!!
I just saw Skyline today. I was looking forward to it when I saw the trailers, but it ended up not being as good as I hoped. The special effects were good, and there were a variety of different aliens, but the storyline wasn’t that great. After getting to know the the characters, they ended up being annoying enough that I didn’t care if the aliens were going to kill them. The ending *spoiler if you haven’t see it* didn’t make sense. If the brains inside some of the aliens were human, then why would they attack the humans after they changed? The boyfried proved that you were still in control after getting your new alien body. I’d probably see the sequel just to see how humans could finally stop the aliens. I’ve got to say that Independence Day was much better.
SPOILER*************************************************
They only showed one brain that wasn’t fully controlled by the aliens being placed in an alien body, so it’s assumed that everyone else stayed looking at the light and weren’t pulled away before their bran was fully controlled.
I watched Skyline last week and I believe it is avery good movie. I cant believe all the crap that the film is getting. They took all the parts of other alien like films and put it into a diffrent setting and made it into something new. Of course some were cliches, so what? It is still I see it as a new kind of movie and with a not so obvious cliches. Kind of a better version pf “cloverfield”esque like movie. BTW i dont like cloverfield that much because when the camera moves around makes me have motion sickness..but still cloverfield is a good movie. And dont compare with airbender, airbender was sooooo bad.
I give Skyline 3 out of 5 starts at least. To be fair i would give it 3.5. Now I hope the Strause brothers read my comment and give me a movie deal. Dont have to be a major role, just somebody who walk into the blue light and got my brains sucked out. (That scene wasnt original as in cliche but it is still very good) Last word I cant belive people dont like this but they still watch all those stupid parody movies who really sucked.
Practical effects and visual effects are really good. Didn’t like one character in the film. Skyline felt as though it didn’t have any direction. It wasn’t moving towards anything. The one location wasn’t a problem as much as how it was used. I felt the scenes were made up as the filming progressed. The creatures are very cool.
Just saw skyline.
I have to say that the directing was professionally done and the special effects were as good as in any other sci-fi film, although many of them were taken directly from better films or video games in terms of design.
What REALLY sucked in this film, was the script from which the movie was made. In one word, the script was bizarre (the secondhand smoke dialogue was a point in which one gentleman decided that he had seen enough – and I understood completely why he walked out of the theatre).
Ray was the only interesting character that had any potential (that was totally wasted), the movie teases about the thrilling adventure the moviewatchers will see once the characters get their butts moving towards the marina (that storyline was wasted too), and how about the storyline about a human body getting strange powers from the lights (wasted).
I have to decline from seeing a sequel to this if its ever made.
the special effects were first rate for it being on a budget. but storywise, one of worst science fiction films ever made, i laughed my behind off with eric balfour’S ROCKY BALBOA moment with the alien….
and the ending plays off like a video game, see SPLATTERHOUSE. where the joker now has to fight his way off the spaceship with his girl, what a laugher… anyone who thinks this movie is great must work for the strause brothers….
I seen Skyline last week… it wasn’t THAT bad but it wasn’t that good either…I guessed what was going on half way through the movie, guessed that there was was going to be another one two seconds later(movie wasn’t moving fast enough to finish in time), and i just didn’t care about the characters(they were annoying half the time). On the up swing the FX were awesome and the ending was kinda cool, cool enough to give the second movie a go(I’ll probably get burned though), and like they said it will more than likely turn into a classic on cable…
Okay. Let me do a tally, and shout out if I miss anything:
* The film still made money.
* The FX are a high point of the film.
* There wasn’t much buzz about the film to begin with.
* There were worse films out this past year.
* The Strauss Bros. are ambitious fellas. (And handle FX well; just not actors)
* The producers b**ch that the film wasn’t more successful.
* They would get whipped by Harry Potter in two days anyway.
I’m sure the folks who made Jonah Hex and When In Rome b**ched too. Well, no, they didn’t. They just take the heat, learn, move on. How did I do?
@Darren – If every online comment thread ran as simply as your bullet points, the world would be better place.
Your brevity is welcome & duly noted.
Personally I liked the movie. I just got home tonight from seeing it. You cannot expect a blockbuster on a low budget film. I would love to see a sequel. Too many sheep out there want the same crap out of hollywood. Im interested in how they will make the second one. The ending was not bad and was alittle dark. Man still fighting but not always winning like in Independence day.
First off, I went to see this in no small part because of all the negative hype. I figured no film was THAT bad….and I was right. The film wasn’t Shakespeare, but I wasn’t expecting that. Did I want to see more from the characters, scenarios? Yeah, but I can say that about a lot of films. And while I think Liam is incredibly cool to speak directly with folks via this section, I also think there’s something to be said for ignoring the impulse to reply and just hunkering down to make the sequel that much stronger.
And yep, I’ll pay to see the sequel too! ; )
Hopefully, the DVD extras will feature something that was lacking in the theater version: LIKE THE ENDING! Seriously, where is the last reel of this film? Certainly not onscreen.
The last two characters are sucked into the ship. SOMEhow, boyfriend’s brain is able to maintain it’s personality inside an alien body. He picks up girlfriend and then fights off a few other aliens. Fade to black. Roll credits. And the film makers can’t understand why we’re all so angry. I havn’t felt this ripped off since my last trip to the concession stand.
Oh, and what the frak does ANY of this have to do with Irish politics…?
District Nine was much better and suprisingly similar story line, and more deserving of a sequel,(which was meant for this year)
Im looking forward to that.
I love how these guys keep defending themselves based on
a variation on “Sci Fi Standards”, as if that’ an excuse to rip
off fairly recent, innovative additions to the genre wholesale,
without a single valid contribution – besides sucking people
into space.
No one’s even pointed out how the ‘ending’ itself was ripped off
DIRECTLY from District 9. “Ooh – what’s going to happen? The main characters been
turned into an alien!”
The difference is, D9′s twist ending served as further commentary on the fate of the Sharltro
Copley’s character, who spent the entire movie debasing the aliens. Very Kafka-esque.
SKYLINE, on the other hand – oh, hell I’ll just put it out there:
NO AMOUNT OF SMALL PROGRESS WILL EVER MAKE UP FOR THE GIGANTIC BLEMISH ON THESE
GUYS REPUTATION, IN FORM OF A GOOEY RESIDUE KNOWN AS: AVP: REQUIEM.
(I’ll ask again. Do these guys even know the meaning of the word Requiem? Anyone? Hello?)
I LIKED the movie!!! It wasn’t a blockbuster but it was good for what it -was fast-food entertainment. The MUST do a part 2 for there is more to the story. I hope it does very well on DVD and Blu-Ray.
Anybody else find it odd that despite these two saying they wanted to make a ‘funny, popcorn flick’ all the advertising for this film has been devoted to making it look like a serious and dramatic invasion film?
This film was bad sci-fi, but not to the point it was so bad it was good…it was just bad. Having a mix of great moments(spoilers) such as the creepiness of the first scene with the light sucking them out contrasted with the cheesy scenes of second hand smoke and the guy knocking at the door taking the alpha male role just make it bad. (and boyfriend overcoming brain posession because he has a baby?….come on) On the ride home my fiance and I went through all the things we think editors with common sense could have done to just make it a good film and spare the forced b-side sci fi film.
1. Start the movie off normal and THEN go to the light sucking people out scene. We don’t need the teaser. The teaser then going to the lame lives of the characters for 20 mins kills the mood. Best to start off movies with either shorter teasers or none at all.
2. Pick one character that has some everyday relatable characteristics. I know they were suppose to be famous and rising to fame, but all of them seemed cut out of some magazine and collaged together. They didn’t seem REAL at all.
3. Don’t kill the black guy (trey?)so fast! It would have been fine but then the guy that came to the door to complain about noise becomes alpha male. I couldn’t even remember where he was in the film and we were all asking each other (who is this guy?). Trey would have been an excellent alpha male and the suicide scene would have been more serious then (famous guy on top becomes the bottom as he attempts to kill himself in dispair)However, no, we were laughing hysterically as the lighter wouldn’t light…no one cared about that guy or any other character.
4. Leave out the braiiiiiiiiiins. That scene where all the people were being sucked up was horrific. Now leave why they are needed a mystery. Sometimes when you don’t know exactly what is happening it makes it more disturbing.
5. The boyfriend punching the alien with his bare hands? silly. Second hand smoke scene? For real…that lady lost trey and it’s the apocolypse. I’m sure one smoke won’t kill your baby. The guy going for his baby after being sucked up? stupid. Movie should have ended as teh couple were being sucked up in the ship. Yeah, a little corny with the kiss but if steps 1-5 were done it wouldn’t be as corny and the ending would be pretty disturbing too. Humans get owned, no explaination….crazy, terrifying, nothing we can do about it. The audience feels vulnerable like the characters. Mission accomplished.
Cranking up the R factor in this incredibly bad morass of a movie wouldn’t have made a bit of difference. Watching Skyline, I got the impression that the producers saw a 30 second commercial they liked and proceeded to take it and stretch it out to feature length without bothering to actually write a script or plan anything out ahead of time.
The acting is extraordinarly bad here, and even David Zayas (the only competent person on the entire production from what I could see), labouring mightly, was defeated by the complete lack of story, plot, meaning or anything resembling what I would define as a movie of any kind. At least he had enough commonsense to blow himeself up to avoid having to be in a sequel. I’m not going to spend much time commenting on the idiocy demonstrated by the characters, because they are so ill defined, I didn’t care enough about them to bother. They are simply cardboard cutouts running aimlessly around an apartment building with nothing to do but die in pointless ways.
The direction was comically bad and I found myself laughing out loud at all the blatant ripping off of past movies, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Matrix, Independence Day and Alien coming immediately to mind. At least Independece Day had a sense of humour. This just grimly marches along as a series of unrelated, pointless, vaguely interconnected special effects shots with people you don’t care about doing the same stupid things repeatedly and dying, until it mercifully comes to an end.
Please, please, please if you have not seen this “movie”, don’t go. Bad movies should not be supported. Skyline is 140 minutes of your life that you will never get back.