Beyond Skyline
| Beyond Skyline | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Liam O'Donnell |
| Written by | Liam O'Donnell |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
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| Cinematography | Christopher Probst |
| Music by | Nathan Whitehead |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Vertical Entertainment |
Release date | December 15, 2017 |
Running time | 105 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million |
| Box office | $992,181 [1][2] |
Beyond Skyline is an 2017 American science fiction action thriller film directed by Liam O'Donnell and stars Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, Iko Uwais, Callan Mulvey, Yayan Ruhian, Betty Gabriel and Antonio Fargas. It is the direct sequel to the 2010’s Skyline. It was released on December 15, 2017 in the United States by Vertical Entertainment. Unlike its critically panned predecessor, Beyond Skyline received generally positive reviews with Rotten Tomatoes certifying it as Fresh by 69% with critics calling Beyond Skyline a vast improvement from the original.
Plot
At the same time where the first film left off, Mark Corley is a Los Angeles police detective who visits his estranged teenage son, Trent, having landed in jail due to brawling just as the alien invasion begins and the entire population of the city is sucked into the various spaceships by the blue light. Mark leads a group of surviving humans through the underground subway tunnels to try to escape from the various aliens. As most of the humans are killed and/or abducted one by one by the aliens, Mark, Trent, and other survivors who include transit operator Audrey and a blind homeless man known only as 'Sarge' who is immune to the blue light since it does not affect his eyes, make it to the marina to escape from the city following its nuclear destruction only to get abducted into the alien flagship by a towering alien tanker.
On board the spaceship, Mark tries to find his son and storms his way into various chambers where he meets up with survivor Elaine and her transformed beau Jarrod to battle the aliens. Elaine gives Mark an update all about the alien invasion and about Jarrod's transformation. Despite Elaine being three months pregnant, her pregnancy accelerated and she gives birth to a newborn daughter. Elaine dies during the delivery and Mark and Alien Jarrod team up to destroy the alien ship by setting alien technology explosives inside the ship's control systems. As Alien Jarrod fights various alien warriors, Mark rescues Audrey, but is too late to save his son when Trent has his brain taken and placed in another alien biomechanical machine creature but gets killed by Mark using the Claw weapon. Sarge sacrifices himself so that Mark and Audrey and the baby can escape from the chamber. Alien Jarrod is taken down when he fights the alien leader, but succeeds in destroying the ship which crashes in rural Laos in Southeast Asia.
As the alien spaceship begins to repair itself, Mark, Audrey and the baby are found by a pair of human siblings, outlaw Sua and his sister Kanya, who are evading both aliens and local milita who are killing and looting the local population. As they trek through the jungle, the group discovers that the human baby grows at an accelerated rate from a newborn into a three-year-old in just one day. Sua and Kanya lead Mark, Audrey and the baby to a hidden human resistance hideout located in local ruins where Harper, a medical officer and former drug smuggler, examines the baby girl and learn about her unique DNA which her blood may be the key to defeating the aliens due to her evolving DNA. Unknown to Mark, Trent’s brain was placed into an alien. Harper discover the key to turn all aliens' eyes into red and return their brains to normal to save everyone.
While on a patrol, Kanya encounters a two-legged tanker alien and sacrifices herself by luring it into a old minefield left over from the Vietnam war to destroy it, but unwittingly gives away their location to the alien ships searching for the human newborn child which then converge on the human base.
During the climactic battle between the aliens and human resistance fighters (where several members, including Harper are killed), Mark enters a grounded alien ship, where he uses the red bomb to turn the blue lights into red lights, and turning his "alien" son to red and restoring his memories when he was born to Mark. The alien leader and his horde of alien warriors attacks the group, but Trent fights back inside a giant alien tanker, and turn blue lights into red lights, defeating the alien leader. With Earth saved, Audrey names the girl, Rose (after Mark's deceased wife).
The ending of the film skips forward 10 years where Rose (at age 10 but looking at least 20 due to her accelerated growth rate) having taken control of an alien ship and leading the human resistance against the aliens operating on the far side of Earth's moon. Rose leads the red-lighted aliens and humans in their space assault on the other blue lighted alien ships, including the mothership.
Cast
- Frank Grillo[3] as Mark Corley, a detective and a father.
- Bojana Novakovic as Audrey, an LA transit worker.
- Iko Uwais as Sua, the leader of an underground human resistance.[4]
- Callan Mulvey as Harper, a doctor of the human resistance.
- Yayan Ruhian[5] as The Chief, a milita leader
- Betty Gabriel as Sandra Jones.
- Antonio Fargas as Sarge, a blind homeless man.
- Pamelyn Chee as Kanya, the sister of Sua.
- Samantha Jean as Elaine, a captive woman (the role was originally played by Scottie Thompson in the previous Skyline film).
- Valentine Payen as Rose (as an adult).
- Jacob Vargas as Garcia, a police officer and friend of Mark.
- Jonny Weston as Trent Corley, Mark’s estranged teenage son.[6]
- Joanne Baron as Regina.
- Karen Glave as Carol.
- Lindsey Morgan as Captain Rose, a LAPD officer.
Tony Black made a small appearance as Jarrod.
Production
In November 2014, Variety announced that Iko Uwais would join the cast, alongside Frank Grillo, Bojana Novakovic, and Yayan Ruhian. Liam O’Donnell wrote the script for the film, also wrote the script for the first film, will now direct as well as produce with Greg and Colin Strause serving as producers also.[7][dubious – discuss] The Strause Brothers were the directors of the first film, Skyline. Matthew Chausse will also produce. Uwais and Ruhian will also serve as fight choreographers on the film.[5]
The film's visual effects and production will be done by Hydraulx.[8]
Filming
Filming occurred in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Principal photography began in December 2014 and is shooting in Yogyakarta and Batam, Indonesia.[9][10][4]
Release
Unlike the first film which had a PG-13 rating, the sequel has an R rating which has been approved by the MPAA. Footage has been released featuring a two-minute clip of a fight between two people while several others are trying to kill an alien. The clip ends with an alien warship crashing into a forest. On Alien Day 2017, set photos were released to show what the aliens in Beyond Skyline looked like for the sequel. The movie had a worldwide theatrical release in November while in the United States, which will be released at a later date, the movie will be released on VOD and will have a limited theatrical release. The first trailer was released on August 16, 2017. The movie premiered on November 9 at Cinepocalypse with the director in attendance. The movie also premiered on October 14 at TADFF in Toronto. Beyond Skyline was released on VOD, Limited Theatrical, and on Digital December 15 and will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray January 8th. Reviews from the people at the premiere in TADFF were better than the first Skyline.[11]
References
- ^ "Beyond Skyline". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
- ^ "Beyond Skyline". The Numbers. Retrieved 6 November 2017.
- ^ Kristy Puchko (November 2014). "Skyline Is Definitely Getting A Sequel, Here's Who Is Starring". Cinema Blend. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ a b James White (November 9, 2014). "Frank Grillo Goes Beyond Skyline". Empire Online. Archived from the original on January 8, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Brent Lang (November 8, 2014). "'Raid' Star Iko Uwais Joins 'Beyond Skyline'". Variety. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ Sean Decker (11 March 2015). "Exclusive: Jonny Weston Joins Beyond Skyline". Dread Central. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
- ^ Kevin Jagernauth (November 7, 2014). "Casting: Frank Grillo To Lead 'Skyline' Sequel, Noomi Rapace Has A 'Price' & More". Indie Wire. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ Carolyn Giardina (June 25, 2014). "VFX House Hydraulx Aims to Expand Business Model With Production Services". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ Frank Grillo (21 December 2014). "Me and my boy #ikoUlwais #BEYONDSKYLINE Gonna miss beating the shit out of each other. #brother". Frank Grillo's Verified Twitter. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ Bojana Novakovic (22 December 2014). "Shhh. The set's asleep. #BeyondSkyline @ Prambanan Temple, Yogyakarta, Indonesia". Bojana Novakovic's Verified Twitter. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ ""BEYOND SKYLINE" A CORNER HARDER: ALIENS ATTACK WITH R RATING". Movie Jones. Retrieved December 9, 2016.