Movie Review: Watch the Skies

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B

A delightful sci-fi film from Sweden. 

This film about a teenage girl who tries to prove that her dad did not leave her but was abducted by aliens, wears its Spielberg influence on its sleeve. Yet even if its influences are clear, this film is incredibly charming. Much of this charm comes from the main character. While she is far from perfect and can at times act a little selfish (she is a teenager after all), she is immensely relatable and easy to feel for. When everyone views her as if she is crazy, all she wants is for someone to listen to her. This is something we can all relate to because we all have an innate desire to be heard. Because of this we feel her pain every time someone won't listen to her, which helps create a strong bond between us and the character. Through this the movie takes us through the whole gamut of emotions from joy to sadness to angry to suspense. Also because this character feels so real to us the sci-fi elements also feel completely real to us. Because of this there are some real moments of awe and wonder here that remind us why we go to the movies. The storyline itself is simple and a bit familiar but there is a real charm to this simplicity that works to the film's advantage. 

The humor in this film can be a bit hit and miss. I'd be lying if I said every comedic moment worked. However, the comedic moments that do work are very funny. 

This movie does however struggle when it comes to the supporting characters. Many of them are bland and undeveloped. Despite some of these supporting characters playing a large role in the plot, we learn little to nothing about them over the course the film. This is sadly true of the female police officer that our main character is friends with. The relationship between them is so underdeveloped that the drama between them can sometimes fall flat. 

This Swedish film was dubbed into English with the aid of AI technology to make the mouth movements fit. I was dead set against this idea going in. I expected the result to be terrible and obvious. However, over the course of the movie, I found myself forgetting that this film wasn't originally in English. It feels so naturally that I couldn't really find any of the flaws I was very much looking for at the start of the film. I am still very weary of using AI in film but here it worked quite well. 

A delightfully movie.