PLOT: A rag-tag group of marines, led by the heroic Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) defend Los Angeles after a worldwide Alien invasion.
REVIEW: BATTLE: LOS ANGELES was probably pitched to studio execs as BLACK HAWK DOWN meets INDEPENDENCE DAY, and sure enough, that’s exactly what the finished product feels like. As far as alien invasion movies go, this is a pretty good one, especially coming hot on the heels of the similarly themed SKYLINE; which was perhaps the worst film of it’s kind since PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE.
That said, it still didn’t stop the film from being a total blast for most of it’s running time. The talent that was drawn to the film, both behind and in front of the camera, more than make up for the script’s major shortcomings. Director Jonathan Liebesman does a great job with the film, giving it a gritty, Ridley Scott-style feel, with lots of cool hand-held camera work and some ultra lean editing from ace editor Christan Wagner. In fact, Liebesman does such a good job, I’m inclined to forgive him for the dreadful DARKNESS FALLS. I’m not surprised he’s getting a lot of hype as the next big action director off this, and BATTLE: LA really bodes well for the upcoming WRATH OF THE TITANS.
As memorable as Eckhart is, the same thing can’t quite be said for the rest of his squad, which is almost completely made up of unknown actors (and Ne-Yo), and seem more like generic military movie types, rather than full blooded characters. Once again though, that’s another shortcoming of the script, and some effort is made to distinguish them early on, with each character getting a separate introduction, although it’s all for nought, as I could barely tell one from the other (the only two I remember clearly are “glasses-guy” and “moustache-guy”).
While it certainly could have used a script polish or two, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES is still a slick event pic, and a good ride for action junkies such as myself. While it’s nowhere near the level of something like DISTRICT 9 (which, along with INCEPTION , THE DARK KNIGHT, STAR TREK and the BOURNE’S are my blockbuster gold standards), it gets the job done, and makes for a damn solid evening of entertainment. Also- it’s NOT in 3D. Hallelujah.