Theres a moment in Battle: Los Angeles where a news report covering the alien invasion mentions that Ireland has been attacked also. It left me thinking to myself how much more interesting it would be if films like this were set in a different part of the world. I may be bias since I’m from Ireland but at this stage everyone’s a little tired of New York and L.A getting all the screen time.
Aliens invade the entire world and the final place that is still left ready to fight back is Los Angeles. SSgt. Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is among the marine platoon that must face these aliens. They’re outnumbered and out gunned, but they fight together and attempt to stay alive till bombs are to be detonated to take out the aliens.
Battle: Los Angeles clearly doesn’t want to be Independence Day or War of the Worlds and that has positives and negatives. On the one hand the realism they’re going for is sometimes really immersive. But the film lacks the memorable action sequences of these other films and more exciting characters.
Action is what this film promises and it gives it in bucket loads. But the over use of the “shaky cam” detracts from that same key selling point of the film. “Shaky cam” has its purposes but it has to be controlled and for the first quarter of this film it wasn’t. You just want to grab a tripod and attach it to the camera.
The cast consists of some very talented people but people like Bridget Moynahan and Michael Peña are wasted here and Aaron Eckhart does his best with a rather dull role. The bond between all the marines is quite harrowing in places and the patriotism is toned down just enough.
Battle: Los Angeles is being unfairly lambasted around the world by critics. It does have several problems but it also delivers a very convincing two-hour war between aliens and marines. You can’t knock a film for doing what says on the tin.
RATING:
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