There comes a time when you have to just sit back and accept the film that is being presented to you. “Battle: Los Angeles” is just that kind of movie. A loud, fast moving boy movie about marines fighting an alien invasion. If you are expecting deep character, magnificent writing or in-depth story telling you will be disappointed. However, if you watched the trailer and saw that it was probably going to be a fusion of “Independence Day” and “Black Hawk Down” then you may just have a great time.
As far as the plot is concerned, a group of marines are sent into the alien invaded, battle torn Los Angeles to rescue some civilians before a planned air strike levels the city. Problems arise when the extraction helicopter is destroyed and the marines and civilians have to make their own way out of the city. The plot is fairly linear and, on the most part, predictable. But let’s face it, we aren’t in that cinema for deep plot, we are there for guns, explosions and video game style action sequences, in other words, we are there to enjoy the ride.
Aaron Eckhart (“The Dark Knight” & “Thank You For Smoking”) and Michelle Rodriguez (“The Fast and the Furious”, “Machete” & TV’s “Lost”) lead a cast of mostly unknowns and TV actors including Bridget Moynahan, Cory Hardict, Gino Anthony Pesi, Ne-Yo and Ramon Rodriguez as the hardened soldiers and civilians. Eckhart’s Sgt. Nantz is given the most character depth as the soon to retire staff sergeant who is dragged back into full service because of the invasion. He is a good man and a great soldier, who is having trouble shaking the guilt of a past mission where he lost his squad. I’m glad that they had an actor of Eckhart’s calibre to handle this because he makes it real when it could have easily shifted into cheesy territory.
Director Jonathan Liebesman does a good job of building tension and the battle scenes are loud and action packed. My only gripe on his direction would be an excessive amount of shaky camera work. “Black Hawk Down” and “The Bourne Identity” have a lot to answer for by starting this technique. When done well, like in the aforementioned “Bourne”, the technique can create a really visceral experience. When handled sloppily, like in “Battle: Los Angeles” or “The Green Zone” it becomes a messy, confusing affair and it is sometimes hard to follow the action.
I really liked Brian Tyler’s moody score for the film, it keeps the action moving without overpowering the film. It is really easy for films like this to have completely overblown scores. In movie making there is a term for these overblown scores, it is called over-scoring or “Micky Mousing” the music, in other words this means that the score tells you what’s on screen and exactly how to feel about it by hitting musical cues through out the film. This is a very effective technique that has been used remarkably well by many blockbuster films like “Star Wars” and “E.T. The Extra Terrestrial”. In “Battle: Los Angeles” they have a great and effective underscore, it moves the action along when it has to, but the film makers also know when to just let the scene carry itself and they back the music off.
I have to say that I really enjoyed the film. It is not the greatest film of the year and ultimately, it will probably be fairly forgettable but I was in exactly the right place for this film. I didn’t want the film to be anything more than what it was. This is not to say the film is bad, in fact it is a very well made film with great visual effects and above average performances from it’s actors, it just isn’t anything special.
If you are in the mood to dis-engage your brain, shove popcorn in your mouth and watch stuff go boom! This is the film for this Saturday night.
– David McVay
