Trailer Review

I watched the trailer for the the sci-fi thriller "Skyline," It is labeled as a trailer. But it is a teaser. One minute thirty three seconds of a teaser. I read the synopsis put out by Universal Studios -- "strange lights descend on the city of Los Angeles, drawing people outside like moths to a flame where an extraterrestrial force threatens to swallow the entire human population off the face of the Earth."

Being a sci-fi fan from way back, ever since I watched "The Day The Earth Stood Still," (the 1951 version, the good one), I said WOW!

The trailer/teaser started with appropriate weird noise and a reminder that last year NASA sent a message into space inviting extraterrestrials to contact us. Straight away, I remembered Stephen Hawking warning last April, that we should avoid contact with aliens, unless we want a Darth Vader type showing up, annexing us to the some evil empire. So I thought, yeah those blockheads at NASA, broadcasting to the wolves of the universe, "Come and get us little lambs."

Then I heard Keith Olbermann, the news anchor, political commentator, host of MSNBC's Countdown, talking about Stephen Hawking's warning, then I saw him and I thought: What is this? A sci-fic thriller or a documentary? I fully, expected Keith Olbermann to continue and say something like, "Yeah, didn't I tell you, America?! Space aliens are behind everything that has been going wrong with America lately! Extraterrestrials infiltration is the explanation for the Tea Party Movement!" Next up, following the Olbermann clip, was Dan Rather. I wasn't surprised to see Dan Rather in a sci-fi flick. He continued with the Stephen Hawkings warning. It would have been cool, if there had been a clip of Dan Rather making references to "the frequency and Kenneth."

Then comes the CGI stuff -- looked like Universal may have opened the piggy bank and spent a fistful of dollars and a few more on special effects. Then what? Well, I saw people being vacuumed up into the sky, and I'm thinking Jerry Falwell now. The late fundamentalist, televangelist, who was always preaching that the end days were coming, and the faithful, particularly himself, were going to be "raptured" up to Heaven by God and be spared the terrible punishment. For the sinful, whom would perish in horrible torment as time ended. Well, I'm wondering: Was Falwell an alien? No, this is just a movie. Space ships seemed to be harvesting the human race.

The flick is due in theaters on November 12th. The directors are Colin Strause and Greg Strause. The cast includes Donald Faison, Eric Balfour, David Zayas, Scottie Thompson, Brittany Daniel.

This is a trailer review not a movie review. As for the trailer/teaser, I wish the 'trailer' was a trailer, fully loaded, or with enough stuff to tell/show me more about the story. I am suspicious of teasers. Often times they are used to sell flicks that are-all high concept, but with no depth, flicks with a good premiss but with no story.