Rent Skylines (2020)

Tedious space shoot-em-up - Skylines review by Alphaville

After 2010’s terrific Skyline, the sequel Beyond Skyline, by a different director, was a disappointment. This third film in the series, again directed by Beyond Skyline’s Liam O’Donnell, hits rock bottom. The SFX are good enough but soon pall with nothing of interest happening on screen.

The usual motley crew of stereotypes that populate this type of film are sent to an alien planet to fight aliens. It plods along leaving no cliché unturned with on-the-nose dialogue that even Dr Who writers would have rejected: ‘Let’s go!’, ‘Watch our back!’. If the long, drawn-out scenes were re-edited to reduce the overlong 2hr run time, at least some pace might have been injected into it. The fight scenes, on the other hand, are ruined by rapid-fire editing. And why does this planet never have any sunlight to brighten the dour look of the whole affair? There’s so little drama, tension or excitement that it’s difficult to keep your finger off the FF button. And if you want to be put off even more, watch lost-in-Hollywood starlet Lindsey Morgan telling us on the DVD Xtras how wonderful everyone is.