The biggest thing I take away from Dark Skies is that it comes from Scott Stewart, the same man who brought us Legion and Priest. Both those movies were dumb but fun pieces of effects heavy action, but with Dark Skies he is on a different tack, creating a genuinely creepy tale of an other worldly incursion on a typical American family. The family in question are the Barrets, wife Lacey (Kerri Russell), husband Daniel (Josh Hamilton), and their two sons, 13 year old Jesse (Dakota Goyo) and the younger Sam (Kadan Rockett), whose lives are turned upside when strange events plague their home. Starting small (like food being thrown over the floor and security alarms being triggered), they soon escalate (the mass bird attack which is central to the movies ad campaign), until the Barrets' lives are put in real danger.
There is a real sense of unease about this movie from the very first frame. Stewart, who also wrote the script, builds the tension nicely, letting us get to know the Barrets, so we care somewhat about what happens to them. In fact, he inserts some nice character moments, like Jesse getting to grips with the pitfalls of adolescence, and Daniel's frustration at losing his job and no longer being the bread winner, in between all the weirdness. The story moves a good pace for the first half of the movie, but sadly once we find out what is going on, the story stalls, and begins to spin its wheels as it moves towards the finale. Scenes repeat themselves, the same event happening to different people, and ten minutes after the plot is explained to us by Lacey, it is explained to us again by a different character. While the core concept is a good one, there isn't enough meat on it to stretch out to the 97 minute run time. Things pick up for the genuinely unnerving finale, but then it is all let down by some confusing final scenes, and one last twist that was pretty obvious from the get go. In it's favour, the atmosphere is built nicely, even though the eerie music is a tad overused (as per usual with recent horrors, telling us to feel uneasy, when we really should get there ourselves), and while the scares are minimal, it than makes up for that with some really creepy moments that will keep you interested.
Russell and Hamilton play their parts well, even though the characters devolve into the usual horror cliches, which is a shame because early sub plots hint at some good tension between the pair, but they abandoned to make room for the main plot. Goyo plays the confused Jesse very well, some parts of the movie feeling like they would slot perfectly well into a coming of age flick. But who really surprised me was J.K. Simmons as a paranormal expert the Barrets turn to for help. This isn't the bellowing, larger than life Simmons we are used to, the man who brought J. Jonah Jameson to life so perfectly in the original Spider-Man. Here, he is subdued, even broken. He does spout some rubbish, but it is a great performance.
While starting off promising, Dark Skies falls down quickly. But for those who enjoy a good scare, there is enough here to warrant a watch.
There is a real sense of unease about this movie from the very first frame. Stewart, who also wrote the script, builds the tension nicely, letting us get to know the Barrets, so we care somewhat about what happens to them. In fact, he inserts some nice character moments, like Jesse getting to grips with the pitfalls of adolescence, and Daniel's frustration at losing his job and no longer being the bread winner, in between all the weirdness. The story moves a good pace for the first half of the movie, but sadly once we find out what is going on, the story stalls, and begins to spin its wheels as it moves towards the finale. Scenes repeat themselves, the same event happening to different people, and ten minutes after the plot is explained to us by Lacey, it is explained to us again by a different character. While the core concept is a good one, there isn't enough meat on it to stretch out to the 97 minute run time. Things pick up for the genuinely unnerving finale, but then it is all let down by some confusing final scenes, and one last twist that was pretty obvious from the get go. In it's favour, the atmosphere is built nicely, even though the eerie music is a tad overused (as per usual with recent horrors, telling us to feel uneasy, when we really should get there ourselves), and while the scares are minimal, it than makes up for that with some really creepy moments that will keep you interested.
Russell and Hamilton play their parts well, even though the characters devolve into the usual horror cliches, which is a shame because early sub plots hint at some good tension between the pair, but they abandoned to make room for the main plot. Goyo plays the confused Jesse very well, some parts of the movie feeling like they would slot perfectly well into a coming of age flick. But who really surprised me was J.K. Simmons as a paranormal expert the Barrets turn to for help. This isn't the bellowing, larger than life Simmons we are used to, the man who brought J. Jonah Jameson to life so perfectly in the original Spider-Man. Here, he is subdued, even broken. He does spout some rubbish, but it is a great performance.
While starting off promising, Dark Skies falls down quickly. But for those who enjoy a good scare, there is enough here to warrant a watch.
