Speaking as the worlds #1 Skyline fan, I knew I had had to stop at nothing to watch the third film, Skylin3s.
Then, four years passed and I said “Oh right, I really liked those first two” and remembered to watch it.
The original film was a pretty good sci fi horror movie starring the black guy from Scrubs as he and his friends tried *real hard* to avoid being noticed by the surprise alien invasion happening outside their window. Low budget but effective for what it was. The second, Beyond Skyline swung hard, starting with different characters and speedrunning the first movie, turning into a prison escape movie and thenthe movie becoming a kind of budget Independence Day knockoff (paid for by also becoming a tourism video for Vietnam. Or possibly Thailand, I forget which). It also had a cliffhanger sequel hook ending… and apparently the movie just ended, like, five minutes too soon since this third one opens with a recap that barely extended past that before cutting to five years later.
Now the first movie was just the one story, and the sequel was three, so, naturally, Skylin3s had to shift gear entirely about every ten minutes or so. Just off the top of my head we’ve got some Aliens, some Blade 2, some Forbidden Planet, some Resident Evil 5, some Atlantis, some Escape from New York all at various points, the plot shifts gears so often that even when it’s a predictable plot twist, just wait a few minutes because an entirely different plot will happen instead. Occasionally they’ll hold together narratively, mostly, no, it’s just a rapid switch form one set piece to another and I think the writers kind of forgot to do a second draft.
90% of the time the visuals really hold together well, using CG sparingly to enhance the (really good) practical effects, but when it’s full CG the effect is really lessened. Some of the feats look absolutely incredible, others look like a PS1 cutscene.
Anyway, the least boring way to spend 2 hours if you’re in the mood to watch a bunch of people inadequately explain why they’re on an alien planet looking for a space egg.