Skylines (stylized as SKYLIN3S, and also known as Skyline 3)[3][4] is a 2020 American science fiction action film co-produced and directed by Liam O'Donnell which he wrote from a story he developed with producer Matthew E. Chausse. It is a sequel to Beyond Skyline (2017), and the third installment in the Skyline film series.
| Skylines | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Liam O'Donnell |
| Screenplay by | Liam O'Donnell |
| Story by |
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| Based on | Characters by
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Alain Duplantier |
| Edited by | Barrett Heathcote |
| Music by | Ram Khatabakhsh |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Vertical Entertainment |
Release dates |
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Running time | 110 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $8 million |
| Box office | $170,581[2] |
The film premiered at the London FrightFest film festival on October 25, 2020,[5] and was released on December 18, 2020, in the United States in theaters and on Apple TV by Vertical Entertainment[6] (all during the COVID-19 pandemic).
Plot
editPicking up shortly after the previous film, Rose leads the human fleet against the aliens, ten years after the first invasion. Now called 'Harvesters', the aliens are on board the Armada, a mother ship in orbit of the Moon. After breaking through the enemy lines, Rose freezes before she can fire and one of her ships is destroyed. With the aliens preparing to fire on Earth, Rose is forced to destroy one of her own ships when it gets into the crossfire. She sacrifices thousands of humans, but succeeds in destroying the Armada. Wracked with guilt, Rose vanishes while humanity rebuilds, living alongside billions of 'Pilots', freed alien-human hybrids.
Five years after the battle, Rose lives in a tent city near the ruins of London, avoiding resistance forces searching for her and keeping the aging effects of her hybrid nature at bay with the help of hyper-oxygenated blood transfusions prepared by her friend Dr. Mal. A viral pandemic strikes the Pilots and anyone using transplanted Pilot limbs. The virus eats the Pilots alive while reverting them back into their brainwashed state. Resistance leader Leon captures Rose and brings her before General Radford who reveals that the Armada's core drive warped to Cobalt One, the Harvester homeworld, before the ship's destruction. Only with the Armada's core drive do they have a chance of saving the Pilots. Rose reluctantly agrees to join the mission.
At Cobalt One, the team's ship crashes after a collision that leaves it running on emergency power. The crew of Rose, her Pilot adoptive brother Trent, Leon, Owens and Alexi find the planet filled with the bodies of dead Harvesters. There are also strange shadow creatures that appear to be mutations of the Harvesters. Alexi is heavily wounded and sacrifices herself with a pulse grenade to kill them. The team manages to reach the Armada where Rose is briefly possessed by the Harvester Matriarch, who accuses the humans of coming to destroy her species. Trent helps Rose to break free of the Matriarch's control and Rose realizes that the alien's telepathic influence was what caused her to freeze in the war. Now no longer afraid of who she is, Rose embraces her powers and steals the core drive. However, Owens betrays the others, infects Trent with the virus and flees with the core drive.
Rose and Leon later discover that Radford bombed Cobalt One prior to their arrival with a biological weapon, the same virus that is infecting the Pilots on Earth. As the two make their way back aboard the ship, Radford uses the core drive to destroy Cobalt One and the Harvesters in an act of genocide. He reveals to them that the virus was intended to peacefully euthanize the Pilots and destroy the Harvesters, but it had the unintended side effect of reverting the Pilots back into their brainwashed state. Having boarded the ship as well, the Matriarch kills Radford, intending to destroy the Earth in revenge. After realizing the truth about the virus, Owens attacks Zhi, who manages to fight him off. As the ship enters a wormhole, Owens falls into an energy field and is disintegrated. Trent, whom Leon manages to snap back to normal, knocks the Matriarch in as well, but has most of his body disintegrated in the process.
On Earth, Mal works on a cure, but the infected Pilots attack before she can finish testing it. The residents, including Mal, Kate, Grant and Huana, fight back and manage to eliminate the attacking Pilots at the cost of Grant and several others, only to have an army of thousands more approach from London. Arriving back just in the nick of time, Rose sucks all of the Pilots into her ship. With Mal's cure and her ship, they now have the power to cure all of the infected Pilots worldwide.
In the aftermath, Mal transplants Trent's brain into a new Pilot body, saving him. Zhi hacks into Radford's personal files and discovers the location of a prison where Radford had held anyone that he considered to be an enemy of the state, including Rose and Trent's long-missing father Mark Corley. Rose orders a course set for the prison, intending to rescue her adoptive father.
Cast
edit- Lindsey Morgan as Rose Corley, a super-powered captain of the survivors and daughter of the late Jarrod and Elaine.
- Jonathan Howard as Leon
- Daniel Bernhardt as Owens
- Rhona Mitra as Dr. Mal
- James Cosmo as Grant
- Alexander Siddig as General Radford
- Yayan Ruhian as Huana, a Laos ex-policeman and bandit who lost three of his limbs in Beyond Skyline which have been replaced with Pilot limbs.
- Ieva Andrejevaitė as Alexi
- Samantha Jean as Elaine
- Jeremy Fitzgerald as Trent Corley, Mark Corley’s son and Rose’s adoptive brother who is now a hybrid and pilot .
- Giedre Mockeliunaite as Izzy
- Cha-Lee Yoon as Zhi
- Phong Giang as the Matriarch, the supreme ruler of the Harvesters and the one behind the events of the previous 2 films.
- Naomi Tankel as Kate
- Rokas Spanlinskas as Violet
- Tony Black as Jarrod
Reception
editBox office
editThe film opened theatrically in Vietnam on December 11, and grossed $49,978 from 960 theaters in its opening weekend, ranking fifth with an average of $52 per theater.[2] The film was pulled from 915 theaters in its second weekend, ranking eighth with $972 and a decrease of 98.1%.[7]
Critical response
editRotten Tomatoes gives the film a 56% approval rating based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 5.4/10.[1] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 4 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8]
Sequel
editIn December 2020, writer/director O'Donnell announced plans to continue the series, with intentions to bring back the principal cast.[9] That same month, Frank Grillo expressed interest in reprising his role in the series.[10] In January 2024, it was announced XYZ Films had acquired the international rights to the fourth Skyline film, titled Skyline: Warpath.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b "Skylines (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
- ^ a b "Skylines". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
- ^ Eoin (7 November 2019). "Coming Soon: Skylines (2020)". The Action Elite. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- ^ Phil (August 5, 2020). "Skylin3s, Skylines, Skyline 3….the sequel to Skyline and Beyond Skyline gets a new poster". Live for Film. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- ^ Halen, Adrian (October 14, 2020). "World Premiere of SKYLIN3S to Close FrightFest Halloween Digital Edition 2020". Horror News.net. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
- ^ Sprague, Mike (December 16, 2020). "New SKYLINES Movie Lands On Blu-ray And DVD 1/12". Dread Central. Retrieved December 20, 2020.
- ^ "Vietnamese 2020 Weekend 51". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on Mar 3, 2023. Retrieved December 26, 2020.
- ^ "Skylines (2020) Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
- ^ Kristopowitz, Bryan (December 19, 2020). "Liam O'Donnell On Directing the Sci-Fi Action Sequel Skylines, A Potential Fourth Film". 411 Mania. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ Jerva, John (December 22, 2020). "Frank Grillo to Return for the Fourth Movie in Skyline Franchise?". The Action Elite. Retrieved July 29, 2021.
- ^ Wiseman, Andreas (January 16, 2024). "XYZ Picks Up U.S. Rights To Martial Arts Alien Invasion Pic 'Skyline: Warpath' Starring Iko Uwais & Scott Adkins; First Look Images Revealed". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 16, 2024.