"we survived the american apocalypse... we'll survive this one too." forget the dumbass first one, this is where it's at. in the first 25 minutes, frank grillo is shotgunning aliens, a train derails, an alien rips someone's brain out, and there's a pretty sick explosion which prompts frank to remark: "everything burns..." heck. yeah. it immediately goes places that i really didn't expect it to. we spend a lot of time inside the alien ships, dealing with various creatures, aliens, and all kinds of wild shit. the movie throws a lot of craziness at you, leaving little time for any stupid stuff. there's a lot of really cool effects, both practical and digital. it's staggering to think that this is a direct-to-video movie. 20 years ago, tentpole blockbusters didn't look this good. beyond skyline's biggest disadvantage is that it's a sequel to a movie that most people kinda hated. with an extra several million to polish it up even better, and maybe revamping a good portion of it to sever any connection to the first movie, you could've had a fun matinee hit on your hands here. yet at the same time i'm fine with it being dtv. it improves the reputation of dtv sci-fi/action fare. we need more bloody, gory, balls-to-the-wall, sci-fi actioners like this. iko uwais and frank grillo make a hell of a pair, and this wild flick does them both justice. they badass their way through a movie full of gigantic aliens, glowy holograms, brain-sucking tentacles, massive weird-looking spaceships, and epic muddy kung-fu brawls. how is all of this in one movie? and how is it so much goddamn fun? i love it. all the corny one-liners, the thrillingly over-the-top set pieces, the crazy plot (which is surprisingly decent), and the kick-ass martial arts; it's all great. this is a movie that willfully refuses to heel at the standard limitations and pitfalls of being a sequel, as well as a dtv movie. i could not recommend beyond skyline more, because holy shit, for what it is, it's awesome.