Stephen Hawking supposedly warned that the earth may not fare too well in case aliens come knocking on the door. He said it would be like when Columbus came to the New World. In other words, their arrival may not turn out the way humans would prefer. The movie Skyline capitalizes on this idea and has used and hyped Hawking’s words in the script enough to insert terror in the hearts of people and audiences, letting them know that non-benevolent aliens can indeed visit Earth and cause mayhem. What would you do in such a scenario?

Skyline is science-fiction, but it is more like a horror film in that it makes good use of people’s fear of what could happen in case aliens arrive. In Skyline, people will get sucked into what may be likened to giant vacuum cleaners of spaceships. If the movie Independence Day had giant spaceships that spurted destructive rays that wiped out entire cities, Skyline has giant spaceships that send out light that draws people like moths to a flame, after which they are sucked inside the belly of the ships with what may be wide-area tractor beams.

It’s all fiction of course, but the thought of the entire human race being siphoned off by aliens is chilling enough to give children nightmares. It’s the kind of idea that will give us sweats if we know that it can happen even if the chances are astronomical. But if Steven Hawking, one of the most brilliant minds of this age, says a future encounter with aliens might not be pleasant, then our logical minds may give in a little and accept what can be possible. But don't worry, astronomer Carl Sagan had a different vision of visiting aliens. His aliens were friendly and wanted mutual understanding.


The teaser of Skyline shows cityscapes of Los Angeles being pummeled by alien light meteors and a couple of witnesses awed the onslaught. There are also television news clips where the reporters talk about alien invasions and Hawking’s dire predictions. Near the end, scenes of screaming people getting sucked into giant spaceships are shown. Most of the scenes are obviously rendered with computers and feel like they were plucked out of a 3D video game like The SIMS, but the newscasters are definitely real people. The images are great and look real. It just goes to show how technology is now so advanced that you can make realistic big scenes from the small screen of the computer.

The survivors, or our band of people leftover from the “Great Sucking,” do what they can to make sense of what’s happening around them and fight for their lives. Skyline is directed by the Strause brothers, Colin and Greg Strause—special effects (sfx) veterans who were already into film making as teenagers. The screenplay is by Joshua Cordes and Liam O'Donnell.

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