This Forgotten Sci-Fi Flop is Blowing Up on Netflix

Time and time again, Netflix has proven itself to be the perfect place for audiences to discover overlooked movies, and for those overlooked movies to finally get some eyes on them. Perhaps it's due to the wider audience or the ease of browsing for new flicks to watch, but either way, a lot of box office flops and critical bombs have Netflix to thank for their viewership. One of those flops is the 2020 sci-fi action movie Skylines, currently dominating Netflix's viewership charts.

The dystopian adventure is actually the third entry in the Skyline franchise, following 2010's Skyline and 2017's Beyond Skyline. Sadly, the trilogy got started on a less-than-ideal note, with the 2010 original tanking at the box office and receiving mostly poor reviews from critics. However, Beyond Skyline rejected the sophomore slump expectation and wound up earning pretty solid reviews, even if audiences still weren't totally on board with the franchise.

Skylines debuted in theaters and on Apple TV in December 2020, but its arrival on Netflix in March 2021 has breathed new life into the movie. As of March 23, Skylines has remained in the list of Netflix's top ten most-watched movies in the U.S. for several days - something not many other projects, film or otherwise, have achieved.

Directed by Liam O'Donnell, who also wrote the film's script, Skylines picks up where the second film left off: now-grown-up resistance leader Captain Rose Corley is leading a team of elite mercenaries, including both humans and bio-mechanical entities that were formerly enslaved as soldiers. The end of Beyond Skylines saw Rose and her team flying around the Moon, attacking other ships. At the start of Skylines, the human portion of the crew is focused on battling the Harvester mothership known as the Armada, which will use its weapons to blow up Earth. Rose hits a crossroads when she realizes that the only way she can defeat the Armada and save Earth is to put one of her own ships in the line of fire, a move that could only result in everyone on the ship dying. She makes the difficult decision in order to protect Earth, then disappears for half a decade as she works through her guilt and grief.

When Rose emerges, living in London amongst Pilot aliens and trying to keep herself hidden from Leon, humanity has changed. A virus breaks out and turns into a pandemic, affecting Pilots and anyone who has Pilot parts. It destroys not only the Pilots' bodies but also their minds, causing them to revert back to their original hostile selves.

It's up to Rose and her team to put an end to the virus before it's too late. The group heads to the aliens' home planet in an attempt to save the world.

At the time of its release, Skylines didn't blow people away - not critics and not general audiences. Some reviews were mostly negative and some were rather glowing, but across the board, critics felt that Skylines was kind of like its title: a middle-of-the-road movie that rests on the horizon line. Polygon's Tasha Robinson put it best when she wrote in her review of the film,

"Skylines feels like the respectable thirtysomething iteration of a familiar friend who used to be a rowdy teen, then a reckless and wild twentysomething. It's perfectly passable low-key science fiction, almost certainly destined for a fast trip to Netflix, where it can be taken up as an amiable evening's viewing."

Netflix is exactly where Skylines ended up, and subscribers are now singing the film's praises. One Twitter user wrote,

"Skylines is honestly a good movie and I hope y'all will watch it now that it's on Netflix because it's soooo worth it and that it's what the cast & crew deserve!!"

Critic Matthew Essary even took the time to share a six-tweet thread about Skylines' merits, writing in part,

"I wanted to let you know that the incredibly fun sci-fi sequel SKYLINES is on @netflix starting today [March 18, 2021]! It joins the previous entry in the series, BEYOND SKYLINE, on the services and these two films form an excellent standalone sci-fi tale. [...] I legitimately love SKYLINES and the earlier BEYOND SKYLINE and I think you will too."

If you're in the mood for a fun, action-packed adventure, Skylines is worth adding to your must-watch list.

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