Dark Skies movie review & film summary (2012)

To be fair, "Dark Skies" does have a few things going for it. Writer-director Scott Stewart, whose previous efforts have included the inexcusably stupid genre mash-ups "Legion" and "Priest" (2011), takes a slow-burn approach to the proceedings that is effective in setting the oddball mood. As the beleaguered mother, Keri Russell delivers a strong performances that is actually far better and more committed than one might expect from this kind of movie and makes you wish that she got more chances to work on the big screen.

And even though he is only in a couple of scenes, the brief presence of the invaluable J.K. Simmons comes as a blessed relief. After all, if you have to have a scene in which all the weird goings-on are explained in one giant gob of goofy exposition, it is always wise to have it delivered by an actor with the ability to make even the silliest of developments come across as borderline plausible.

For the most part, however, "Dark Skies" is a bore that even the most forgiving genre buffs will find difficult to defend or endure. The ostensible shocks are pedestrian, the story and characters are not particularly interesting and too much screen time is dedicated to subplots that go nowhere, such as Daniel's struggle to find work and older son Jesse's (Dakota Goyo) misadventures with a weird neighborhood kid who appears to have cycled in from "Gummo" and who is by far the creepiest thing in the film.

Then there is the ending, or rather the lack of anything resembling a satisfying conclusion. Without going into too many details, it seems as if Stewart wanted to execute a Shyamalan-esque rug-pulling game-changer in the final reel. What he actually pulled off is the kind of hogwash that will leave viewers sitting in the dark, scratching their heads during the end credits in hopes that the necessary details will be spelled out at the last minute, as in the notorious wrap-up of "Wild Things." Spoiler Alert — they aren't, so feel free to flee the minute the credits begin to roll, if not long before.

In what can only be described as an act of pure perversity, "Dark Skies" opens with a quote from no less an authority than the late, great Arthur C. Clarke: "Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying." This is a profound notion that can set people of all stripes to contemplating their own place in the grand scheme of things. Maybe someday this quotation will get a chance to open a film that is worthy of it.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7vGnqmempWnwW%2BvzqZmq52mnrK4v46dmKujXai4qrHSZmlpaWI%3D