directed by:
Garrett Schulte written by: Garrett Schulte genre: Sci-Fi, Horror |
With a raised middle finger towards what was supposedly her partner in an ongoing project tracking down some kind of unknown interstellar object of interest, we realize that Jasmin is pretty much on her own if she’s going to find out the truth. She not only discovered the thing to begin with, but the “space chick” also likely has the best opportunity to make sense of it all, if she can just get to a place that’ll allow her the chance to see things clearly in a night sky that should appear to the rest of us as a meteor shower of sorts. Jasmin knows different; she knows there’s something up there we should know about.
So, at least at the start, I felt like I was immediately on her side as her partners, Sam and Richie, basically tell her that she has to stay home as “The Sky’s Forest” begins. Like, McS’cuse me bitch? Who just tells another adult that they have to sit on the sidelines for a timeout, especially when they’re a government scientist? Obviously, as ANY of us would do, Jasmin decides to completely ignore the instructions and goes off on her own to a friend’s cabin way out in the woods, where she can have a better shot at getting the answers she’s looking for. I really liked the casting of Jasmin’s character right away - she’s played by Omalolu Fiki, and you can see a level of seriousness in her eyes right from the get-go that’s perfect for the role. Her friend…or, former friend, Dax (Garrett Schulte) also stood out as part of the cast we could rely on quickly as “The Sky’s Forest” got underway & started to expand its storyline. Chuck (David Price) seemed like a very loose cannon, but in that right, been out in the woods by himself too long type of way. It’s kind of like he’d be a great casting for a modern-day Murdock if they were to remake the A-Team again…like it just feels like he’s gonna be the wild card in just about every scene he’s gonna be in. I was stoked to see the supporting cast in this movie was pretty strong, though, but regardless, I felt like it was crystal clear right from the get-go that Fiki was the caliber of actress you can build a film around. It’s not long before a massive fireball basically comes screamin’ outta the atmosphere & drops into the forest somewhere close by where Jasmin and her friends are staying. As headstrong as she’s already proven to be, you know she’s going to go out there looking for it, and who could blame her? If this were your life’s work and you were genuinely trying to gain some kind of understanding of how the whole damn UNIVERSE came to be, then I’m sure that you’d be chomping at the bit to get out there and find whatever can be found just as much as she is. Of course, nothing’s ever that easy now, is it? Heading out into the forest is merely where “The Sky’s Forest” begins to flex its most noticeable Sci-Fi muscles. It is also probably important to note that not everything always wants to be found, either. Another thing to think about might be that you might not know what to do IF you find what you’re looking for in this type of scenario. With Dax, Chuck, and Jasmin not really being what you’d call the best of friends, the situation has multiple levels of complexity to it. As to why her somewhat reluctant cohorts are even willing to help her out, I don’t really know, but together they seem like they’re actually going to make a decent team. The dialog they share is great…it’s all very realistic, like conversations you might even have yourself if you were somehow in a similar situation. All in all, “The Sky’s Forest” does an excellent job of establishing a storyline that you wanna stick with, which isn’t always the case for me in the Sci-Fi realm. It has this whole ‘careful what you wish for’ type of vibe to it, whereby as we watch, we’re hoping for them to find something of significance, but also wary that it might not work out for the trio if they do. There’s an ominous feeling in the atmosphere, and it’s part of what makes this highly engaging. Director, Writer, and one of the film’s main stars, Garrett Schulte, has done a solid job of laying this all out in a very watchable way. I’m always cautious when it comes to Sci-Fi as I’m sure many folks are as well - we’ve all seen those films that can be great for 95% of the way through, only to throw things away in that last 5% with some sort of weird monster or too many effects & such. To be completely fair to Schulte, though, what you’ll see early on in “The Sky’s Forest” should have no real problem instilling a bit of confidence in ya - everything feels like it’s on the right track as you watch, and the attention to detail is in the right places you wanna find it. Garrett’s got good instincts for how to go about shooting the scenes, and proves to be just as effective in the daylight as he does in the darkest moments in the forest. Clarity is always key, but in that respect, it’s not just in what you see - you also want to find clarity in the plot as well, and I felt like Schulte did an awesome job in making this extraterrestrial-based tale something that anyone would be able to get into.
For the most part, the way he’s done that is by approaching this story on a human level - sure, you might run into an alien or something out there in the forest, but Garrett made the wise choice to really capture the essence through the eyes of the film’s main characters rather than just jazz it up with creatures and in a less than substantial story. We’ve got whispers in the forest, we’ve got a strange glowing light, a whole lot of confusion, bullets, and even some blood, but to the writing’s credit, “The Sky’s Forest” still remains believable…and fairly possible. Seemingly smaller details, like Schulte’s extraordinary use of colour, go a long, long way here. It honestly just LOOKS cool to watch, and even if you weren’t into the story, I think you’d still have to admire it on a visual level. As the intensity increases in tandem with the danger in the plotline, everything still feels like it’s a well-balanced complement, from the characters to the storyline, from sight to sound, you’ll pass the halfway mark for “The Sky’s Forest” and feel like it easily has a chance to secure itself a victory. Ultimately, it’s Garrett’s game to lose, but he’s put everything on the right track for its potential success. So…was there anything I didn’t like? How did it all end up? Good questions! Allow me to answer that as best I can without giving too much away - but some minor spoilers may be ahead. I’ll say this to start - shifting away from Jasmin as the main character and broadening this out to more of an ensemble cast, might not have been the greatest call - Fiki is a real gem, and this film would have likely been better served with more scenes with her leading the way. As for the darkness and guns blasting & such, there were moments where you could feel this movie slipping away from being interesting, and sliding into stuff we’ve seen in countless ways before around two-thirds of the way into it. Creature-wise, I actually thought what we get to see looked pretty cool, and I thought the effects worked pretty well too - largely for the same reasons; because they’re used sparingly and at the right times where it makes sense. With the most significant twist being that what was supposed to have once come from the sky or another planet is arguably something that we have thought to have been here on earth, hiding somewhere we can’t find for years and years. As to whether or not “The Sky’s Forest” is making that argument directly, or if it’s just something we can draw a line to in our own theories…well, I suppose you’ll have to be the judge of that yourself. Basically, what I’m saying is that a random wander into the woods might have already very well yielded the same kind of results they stumbled upon, without having to have had the big ol’ fireball in the sky to kick things off. By the end, I think it’s safe to say I wanted a little more than I got and that it felt like a stronger film at the start, but I still had fun watching along the way & some of the creepiness definitely hit like it was meant to. I’m going to go with a firm three and a half outta five stars, but I still feel like “The Sky’s Forest” was Sci-Fi done well, and that the most dedicated fans of the genre would enjoy it all even more than I did. |
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