Beyond Skyline

Watching Liam O'Donnell's Beyond Skyline, a Los Angeles-set alien-invasion action sequel to 2010's critically-panned-but-audience-adored Skyline, had me rethinking how I approached film criticism. Sci-fi-loving movie freaks took a shine to the original's slick special effects and B-movie cheese. So what if I viewed Beyond Skyline purely on those terms? What if I didn't bother looking at character development (there's none), narrative structure (zilch), continuity (are they in … Laos?) or dialogue ("Come and get me, motherfuckers!")? All I had to do was decide whether this thing was fun. Well, Beyond Skyline is pretty fun, even if it's completely nonsensical.

Frank Grillo plays tough-guy detective Mark, who's mourning the death of his wife Rose and the loss of his relationship with his estranged son Trent (Jonny Weston). The story starts when Trent gets himself busted (maybe for fighting?), and dad has to wield his influence to get his son off of charges. The two hop on the train -- yes, there really is a subway in L.A. The train crashes and stops dead on the tracks. Conductor Audrey (Bojana Novakovic), who clearly moonlights as a model as so many train conductors are wont to do, teams up with Mark to get passengers to safety. But outside, they've got a giant alien spaceship waiting for them -- and anyone who looks at the blinding light it's emitting goes zombie and gets vacuumed up into space.

A lot of things happen, and then a mutant baby who ages years in a single day is born. Somehow Mark, Audrey and the baby -- who's, like, already 3 -- get spit out in the middle of a guerilla war in Laos. Give O'Donnell points for creativity.