The
weather around here has been hot with few clouds to be found. Unfortunately for
those in other parts of the country, clouds have brought nothing but snow. A
better forecast would call for it to be cloudy with a chance of meatballs.
Right now it looks like nothing but "Dark Skies."
Lacy (Keri Russell), and Daniel (Josh
Hamilton) are feeling the effects of the economic downturn. Lacy is a
struggling realtor, and Daniel is desperately looking for a job as the bills
begin to pile up. The stress of the situation seems to be affecting their two
young boys, Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and his little brother Sam (Kadan Rockett).
However, it isn't the stress that is bothering the boys, it's the unexpected
visitors.
So there are a few dark clouds hanging
over this movie. The biggest cloud is the slow pace. It takes too long getting
to the point, and there are a few repetitive scenes. Yes, some of those scenes
are setting things up, but it never picks up the pace. An example of the
repetitiveness is how they show each family member left frozen with their mouth
wide open in their own scene. Creepy the first time, maybe second, but not
everyone has to do it.
Another dark cloud over the movie is
that it will remind the audience of other movies, the first being the
Paranormal Activity franchise. After some strange events occur while the family
is sleeping, Daniel decides to do what they do in the Paranormal Activity
movies… film everything. He has cameras installed around the house, and the
audience gets to see several scenes of him watching the videos. It becomes
frustrating watching him watch the video as he takes forever to notice a big
clue in the footage.
The other movie is “Signs.” There is
that similar family dynamic with everyone having to work through some
individual issues, and issues as a family. Then there is an especially similar
scene of the family preparing to have one good meal while waiting for the
aliens to make their move. Of course the storyline is nowhere near as complex
as “Signs.”
However, there is one good similarity
to “Signs,” which is the one of the best things about this movie… the aliens.
The first appearance of the aliens is one of the scariest moments of the movie.
It totally took me off guard, and certainly got the audience’s attention. It
would have been nice to see more moments like that, but if they include the
aliens too much they lose their creepiness.
As far as the story, there
is a twist, but if the audience has ever seen a horror movie before, they will
quickly figure it out. They go overboard to drop this clue on the audience over
and over again. Something else that doesn’t sit well is how they go out of the
way to show how the family has money issues, but whenever they need money, it’s
magically there. Daniel is able is reconnect their alarm service, install
cameras around the house, and they even have a nice Apple monitor (as the
product placement).
I originally thought the movie should
have ended right at the ending climax. However, lately too many movies have
done that, and left a sour taste in the audience’s mouth. The final scene wraps
everything up, and has a clever moment that puts the finishing touch on the
movie. It’s the kind of clever thing audiences might have found in say…
“Signs.”
The dark clouds over “Dark Skies”
prevent the sun from shining down on it. The biggest cloud is the slow pace
from beginning to end. It might not bore the audience, but they might wonder
why they are seeing so many similar scenes. There is also too many similarities
to movies like “Paranormal Activity,” and particularly “Signs.” The few scenes
with aliens are easily the best, and will only leave the audience wanting more
of them. They don’t do enough to hide the twist, but end the movie with on a
clever note. While the audience won’t see many dark clouds during the movie,
there are enough dark clouds hanging over it to give it 2 pools of blood.
