Skyline had me with the posters when they appeared a couple of months back. A cityscape with ominous and lethal techno-organic machinery hanging above it, clearly of alien origin, and so vast that the spaceship could not be seen in full. Cool, I thought, I have to see that film. So I did, and you know what? I was right.

Make no mistake. Skyline will not change your life. But there are a couple of moments when you might want to change your pants. And there’s a fond place in my heart for films like that. Unpretentious B-movies that deliver the goods their posters promise, and do so with some measure of style. Evil Dead is a classic example. Tremors is another. And while Skyline doesn’t have the wit of either, it presents a perfectly acceptable way of passing time in a cinema. Which is more than I can say of some of the artier movies that I’ve been on the receiving end of: I’m looking at you, Atonement.

There’s something going on with brothers at the cheesier end of the filmmaking spectrum. Daybreakers was brought to you by the brothers Spierig, The Book of Eli by the Hughes brothers, and there’s a fraternal double act directing Skyline too — the Strause brothers. I can see them all in their teens, getting off on Arnie films as they take hits from the bong. Skyline is where that background takes you if you’re lucky. Otherwise, it’s racking up the gold stars at McDonalds.

Anyway, Los Bros Strause are living the dream courtesy of the workmanlike job they did on Aliens Vs Predator, all about monstrous extraterrestrials battling on our planet. This time round, free of the shackles of a franchise, they bring us a tale of monstrous extraterrestrials battling on our planet. Hey, why not? Let Martin Scorsese tackle angsty stories laced with Catholic guilt — the Strauses have a vision too, and it’s all about bug-eyed monsters.

Actually, they’re not bug-eyed. The aliens’ eyes are shiny and blue and have a McKenna-like effect on humans who, suitably entranced, are hoovered up by squid-like spaceships for some unknown but surely devilish purpose. Knowing in advance that there was a twist in the tale, and that the aliens had targetted LA, I figured the critturs would turn out to have an allergy to botox.

In fact, the twist the story delivers is one I enjoyed, though not everyone has. For me, it was both logical and perverse, a combination normally encountered only in a sex dungeon when there’s a lawyers conference in town. Sure, I can see that some would be annoyed at the film taking a twist and then not taking the time to show its consequences in full, but the Strauses are to be congratulated on assuming a modicum of intelligence on the part of the audience.

Cinema means many things to many people, and one of those things is spectacle. Special effects are understandably a draw for audiences, and seeing them up on a big screen and with throbbing Dolby sound remains a fun experience, however big your home cinema system. There’s also something about it being a communal event that people leave their homes for, even if the only value it reinforces is that the only good alien is a dead one.

Anyway, Skyline is what it is, end of. What interests me is wondering how it will stack up against Attack The Block, the British equivalent that I understand Joe Cornish (of Adam and Joe fame) has cooked up, in which the residents of a London tower block take on a bunch of no-good extraterrestrials. Can one man take on the might of Hollywood? Maybe Joe should ask his brother to help out.