Task 37 – “Battle: Los Angeles” Movie Review

(37) Watch 26 Movies (7/26)

Movie: Battle: Los Angeles

Rating: êê

Battle: Los Angeles is like every other alien invasion movie. It starts something like this: Aliens invade our planet by concealing themselves Trojan horse-style inside meteors which all land nearby major cities across the globe. Their suggested aim is to eliminate the indigenous population of humans and take the planet’s water for their own use. While there are mentions of a war spanning across the globe, the movie focuses on one military unit ultimately lead by a hotshot, Staff Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) assigned to search for and rescue any civilians left in an area of Los Angeles. The movie had so much more potential then was delivered and falls short on several important things.

The entire time I was watching this movie I felt it was a failed attempt at being as big a blockbuster as Independence Day.  You can’t help but to compare the two movies as the theme and plot is almost identical. The biggest flaw with Battle: LA was the unyielding momentum of it all. A well done story is like a roller coaster. It has peaks and valleys as it moves along. An action sequence or a critical moment may occur and heighten your emotions and spike your adrenaline, and then it slows down and allows time for absorption of what you have seen and allows the audience to build a relationship with the characters. Once the battle started taking place here, there was pretty much only one extended sequence of downtime which came a little late in the movie to build character depth. The constant feeling of paranoia when faced with a roller coaster that’s always on the way down, made for a somewhat uncomfortable viewing experience

Given the limited character depth and nonstop action the acting was excellent. The damsel in distress Michelle (Bridget Moyhiyan) was nothing more than a throwaway character and left little hope for anything more. The other civilian characters added nothing to the story like except to add legitimacy to the mission. The central character who all the others seem to not trust is Staff Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart). They briefly mention why they don’t trust him but you have to read between the lines to figure out what happens, and then when they explain it, well, the explanation makes no sense other then he feels sorry they died. TSgt. Elena Santos (Michelle Rodriguez) delivers another exceptional role, this time as a non-combatant intel from another unit who meets up with the Marines.  All of that said good acting is great individually but there wasn’t any cohesion between the characters nothing to make you root for them as a group.

Bottom Line: Battle: Los Angeles is not the horrible abomination the reviews make it out to be, but it’s certainly nothing new or special either. This is a movie where things blow up and people shoot guns.   A movie where you don't have to think and it doesn't expect you to. And if that is your kind of movie, then you'll enjoy this movie.  It is intense at moments especially as you are immersed into the front lines defending Los Angeles.