Critical Capsule: Dark Skies (2013)

Dark Skies is a movie that does not seem to have any aspirations. It arrived in theaters with little fanfare. As a matter of fact, I kept forgetting that it was even coming out. Every time I saw the trailer play, the same thought entered my head: "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." I know, not terribly dramatic, but it is not a film that left much of a mark during the advertising campaign. As it stands, the movie did not leave all that much if a mark at all, so guess it really doesn't matter how effective, or not, the advertising was.

The movie is an alien abduction tale that begs, borrows, and steals from other films while never offering all that much of its own. It is a product designed to waste your time and never engage your mind. Do not get me wrong, I enjoy the mindless cinematic tales as much as the next guy, but there has to be a lone somewhere and Dark Skies just happened to fall on the wrong side of it.

It has been a few days since I have seen it and I am already having problems remembering elements of the plot. The movie moves at a pace that never allows it to develop the characters, it goes from one thing happening to something else happening until the end arrives without having care for how they fit together or any ramifications. And the end? Well, it just stops, like they had no idea how to get to the credits.

The movie seems to be channeling a mash up of Insidious, Paranormal Activity, Poltergeist, and Fire in the Sky, while not being as entertaining as any of them. We never get a good feel for family, at times they seem like a normal everyday family and others it looks like the are coming apart at the seams.

It never takes any time to allow for exploration of the weird stuff happening. For example, there is the appearance of child abuse that is brought up and dropped. How about the father's itchy ear? What happened that? And what was up with that house that mom was trying to sell? How about the lost time? And what was with the goody friend? Nothing fits, nothing is explored, and none of it ultimately matters.

So, I am guessing you are wondering if the movie does anything right? It does build some nice moments when the aliens decide to show up and pull their pranks and they go around sneaking up behind people and such.

Ho hum. Wake me when something interesting happens.

Not Recommended.