Dark Skies (C or 2/4 stars)
'Dark Skies' (written & directed by Scott Stewart), another one of your February release alien invasion-type movies, is not awful. For one, the acting is exceedingly better than you'd expect from a film of this ilk (leads Keri Russell & Josh Hamilton take their roles seriously). However, this movie is also bland, poorly paced, & contains an ending that most audiences will likely find disappointing. Russell & Hamilton play Lacy & Daniel Barrett, upper-middle class suburbanites whose world has been turned upside down since Daniel lost his job. Little do they know how much further their world will spin out of control.
After a couple of bizarre "break-ins", both their teen son Jesse (Dakota Goyo) & his little brother, Sam (Kadan Rockett), start acting - shall we say - oddly. Little Sam insists that "the Sandman" visits them every night, though their phantom guest has something more sinister in mind than merely keeping them awake. But then one strange event follows another & another, and on & on, etc. Jolts, scares ... all we've seen before. I was reminded of the vastly superior Poltergeist while watching; I even thought of the Paranormal Activity movies; which I don't particularly care for. In other words, this film borrows from predecessors.
Though every single aspect of the story has been done before (i.e., Keri Russell jumping online to Google what's been going on in her house, only to have a bump-in-the-night tear her from her computer screen), writer/director Scott Stewart gets some mileage out of the socio-economic anxieties that add to the family's recent torments. And as mentioned, the cast helps this movie, greatly. The child actors are believable. And J.K. Simmons is a hoot as a funny/smart alien expert.
But while Stewart starts strong, the film just kinda wanders for 45 minutes. The characters, as written, also start doing stupid things. i.e., if ANY of the insane things that were happening to this family were happening to me ... I'd be outta there in a shot. But no, the Hollywood script calls for the family to just keep on staying there, figuring that it's just silly coincidences. Also, the pacing becomes a bit tedious (the tried-&-true jolts, bumps, scares), & the "action" isn't exciting enough.
Probably the biggest whoop-de-do comes when 800 (yes, 800!) birds hurl their bodies at the family's house as if they were being drawn to it by some magnetic and/or alien force. It's a cool scene; but again, one we've seen many times. Anyway, it just goes downhill from there; culminating in an outrageously unsatisfying final minute. Ehh, like I said, I've seen far worse. This movie isn't of a horrendous quality, nor is it agitating. It's a well acted 'who cares?' alien flick.
After a couple of bizarre "break-ins", both their teen son Jesse (Dakota Goyo) & his little brother, Sam (Kadan Rockett), start acting - shall we say - oddly. Little Sam insists that "the Sandman" visits them every night, though their phantom guest has something more sinister in mind than merely keeping them awake. But then one strange event follows another & another, and on & on, etc. Jolts, scares ... all we've seen before. I was reminded of the vastly superior Poltergeist while watching; I even thought of the Paranormal Activity movies; which I don't particularly care for. In other words, this film borrows from predecessors.
Though every single aspect of the story has been done before (i.e., Keri Russell jumping online to Google what's been going on in her house, only to have a bump-in-the-night tear her from her computer screen), writer/director Scott Stewart gets some mileage out of the socio-economic anxieties that add to the family's recent torments. And as mentioned, the cast helps this movie, greatly. The child actors are believable. And J.K. Simmons is a hoot as a funny/smart alien expert.
But while Stewart starts strong, the film just kinda wanders for 45 minutes. The characters, as written, also start doing stupid things. i.e., if ANY of the insane things that were happening to this family were happening to me ... I'd be outta there in a shot. But no, the Hollywood script calls for the family to just keep on staying there, figuring that it's just silly coincidences. Also, the pacing becomes a bit tedious (the tried-&-true jolts, bumps, scares), & the "action" isn't exciting enough.
Probably the biggest whoop-de-do comes when 800 (yes, 800!) birds hurl their bodies at the family's house as if they were being drawn to it by some magnetic and/or alien force. It's a cool scene; but again, one we've seen many times. Anyway, it just goes downhill from there; culminating in an outrageously unsatisfying final minute. Ehh, like I said, I've seen far worse. This movie isn't of a horrendous quality, nor is it agitating. It's a well acted 'who cares?' alien flick.