Centering on the Barretts, a middle class family in the suburbs of, presumably, the North West, Dark Skies examines a family under pressure made worse by frequently inexpiable events effecting the entire family. What makes the film unique, in an otherwise very over played genre, is it's reinvention of genre tropes. Instead of simply focusing on lost time and electronic glitches, the film plays with hallucinatory visions, catatonia, and twacked out animal behavior.
But what REALLY makes the story interesting is how they treat the nuclear family dynamic. Not once does it feel like this is just a bunch of actors pretending to be a family. There are real concerns going on in the background. Social obligations and monetary concerns dominate the up-heaving world of the Barretts. It's not until halfway through the movie that they finally dismiss all of their prior concerns to become believers in what's happening to them. Kerri Russell and Josh Hamilton, as the mother and father leads are quite convincing as the reality of their world frays apart and the primary concern is that of any mother and father; protect the family.
The two child actors Dakota Goyo and new comer Kadan Rocket are both well placed in their roles of older and younger brother, respectively, bringing to life all the pains of growing up while set upon by an extreme and, pardon the pun, otherworldly situation. Throw in a reserved cameo from J.K. Simmons (his hat is fantastic) and mix it together with convincing effects and increasingly moody lighting and you've got the atmosphere of a great film.
While it did suffer a few times from expository dialogue and a couple of questionable graphic effects, ultimately the films atmosphere never suffered once in it's consistency and the story, while probably not the newest, was certainly engaging and fun to watch.
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