Mission: Los Angeles

This is what I would call an underdog, a movie that I probably skipped due to the average ratings but boy was I wrong.

Our premise is that earth is being attacked unexpectedly by overpowered alien forces, presumably for our planet resources.

And notice I say presumably, because all we can do is presume. The aliens never attempt to communicate and they just attack to kill. This is an ongoing theme in the movie. We never really know who the enemy is, what they want, how they operate, how to kill them. And this creates a mystery, atmosphere and a very realistic perspective. Come to think about it, if aliens attacked we also wouldn't know what's happening and we would be looking for clues to figure things out while we are defending and hiding from extermination. Talk about terror!

Action scenes are very good, alien weapons/overall style are imaginative and (fairly) original and direction/acting are solid and manage to convey agony and a sense of fighting for a cause.

Give this movie a fair chance, it doesn't disappoint at all, in fact it is one of the better ones in the genre - provided you like action movies and the alien invasion topic.

Battle: Los Angeles finds Marine Staff Sergeant Aaron Eckhardt ready to call it a career in the USMC. But an alien invasion that is disguised somewhat as a meteor shower upsets those plans. The aliens that are invading are not warrior Klingons or logical Vulcans, in fact they're really ugly and use our own sea water as fuel for their weapons.

I'm not sure of the science with that one, but we've certainly got a ton of sea water on this old Earth. Why the aliens just didn't land somewhere in the Pacific Ocean between South America and New Zealand and take all they need is something I'm still trying to figure out. Instead they land in all kinds of coastal and the world forgets it's feuds and tries to battle back.

The film is very similar to War Of The Worlds as Eckhardt's isolated squad, sent on a rescue mission for some civilians who were left behind in an abandoned police station in Santa Monica get first hand experience up close and personal with the aliens. It's very much like scientists Gene Barry and Ann Robinson in the 1952 classic being left behind and learning about what makes the Martians tick. But these are not scientists, they're making it up as they go along.

Eckhardt is second in command to young second lieutenant Ramon Rodriguez and there's tension there as well.

The acting takes a distant second place to the computer generated special effects. Although the stress of these Marines in combat with a very unknown enemy is telling and portrayed well on the screen.

Battle: Los Angeles is a good, not great science fiction film and it will no doubt attract a cult following of sorts, the same way Starship Troopers has.

This is movie I've never seen before. Watched it today on Netflix. It is great movie with emotional moments and fantastic action. Negative reviews are just rude and making you skip a good action movie.

The alien invasion film is certainly nothing original. Recently, and upcoming, I can think of no less than 4 film and TV versions of this basic tale. Battle: Los Angeles doesn't bring anything new, plot wise, to this scenario. In fact, it operates on the thinnest of plot and some very underdeveloped characters. The only somewhat unique aspect, at least for an alien invasion story, is its gritty "you are there" aspect, filmed in a hand-held, jerky, thick of the action style. This isn't revolutionary either, but Battle: Los Angeles does manage to squeeze some momentum out of its running length.

As mentioned above, Battle: Los Angeles' plot can be summed up rather succinctly: Aliens land on Earth throughout the globe, including near Los Angeles. This alien force, operating with ground forces, begins to overrun the various cities they arrive at, and LA is no different. A squad of marines, led by Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhardt) is dispatched to attempt to retrieve possible civilian presence from a Santa Monica police station behind the front lines of the fighting. They encounter heavy resistance, and must find a way back to their forward operating base while keeping the civilians under their protection, and themselves, alive.

Battle: Los Angeles is obviously influenced, visually, by movies such as Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan in the staging of its action. Much of the film is photographed with hand-held camera moves, the focus constantly whipping around, disorienting both the characters and the audience. While the technique is hardly unique, it does work to a degree in Battle: Los Angeles, bringing a different approach to a familiar plot. This isn't about scientists trying to figure out what the aliens want, or politicians wringing their hands about the "big decisions" in the midst of an alien onslaught. Battle: Los Angeles keeps its focus exclusively on the soldiers in the thick of battle, presenting the action in a no-holds barred manner. It is refreshing, at least from that perspective, to see a harder-edged, more realistic take on this material.

On the other hand, Battle: Los Angeles is a bit weak on the character front. The most development is given to Sergeant Nantz, who had just recently returned from a tour in Iraq where lives were lost and many assume he was to blame. This plays into several moments in the film, influencing other characters regarding the decisions he makes during the events of the story. Beyond that, aside from a few obligatory references to someone's relative or background, none of the other characters see much development. Physically, they are different enough to stand out from one another, but they are all mostly blank slates. There isn't complete detachment from the audience, several moments have some resonance emotionally, but not as much as if the filmmakers had taken some time to flesh the people out a bit more.

Battle: Los Angeles also suffers from being a bit overlong, and it's relentless, action oriented approach means that a lot of similar scenes play out over and over again: Marines trapped in combat, things don't look good, a character makes a choice or sacrifice, they manage to subdue their attackers, and then the film moves to the next scene in this same format. There is also little or no development of the alien menace. Snippets of television coverage featuring scientific experts fills in a little of the backstory to them, but it is mostly incidental. However, Battle: Los Angeles is not created in that style, it is about the action going on with the marines in the thick of it, and stays in that mode.

Aaron Eckhardt proves again his ability to sell a character, and he imbues Sergeant Nantz with a vigor and a degree of weariness that you buy into. Most of the other actors do a decent job of making us believe in these people as Marines in the thick of combat. A few recognizable names take roles, including Michele Rodriguez as an Air Force tech who joins up with the Marines and Bridget Moynihan as a civilian they are trying to protect, but neither has much to work with in regards to their characters other than to look tough or scared, respectively.

Battle: Los Angeles is certainly no masterpiece. It doesn't deviate much from the alien invasion template in regards to the broad strokes of its plot, and the style it was filmed in has been pioneered by other films. That being said, the film is engaging enough, and applies its style to a source material in a way that at least gives a different perspective on a familiar narrative framework. That doesn't make for a tremendous film, but not one that is completely in need of avoidance by the filmgoing public.

I saw this film the other day, and I actually really liked it. It was exactly what I expected (maybe a little better). If you want to watch a really well thought out film with lots of character development and interesting subplots this is not the film for you. If you want to watch a bunch of U.S. Marines beat the tar out of invading spacefreaks, then this is the film for you. From when we first encounter the aliens to sometime in the middle, the movie is a nonstop thrill ride. Stuff explodes, aliens get splattered, humans get burned by lasers. In case you didn't already suspect, this film is very violent. Although there isn't a lot of blood, there are certainly a lot of deaths. The action is unpredictable and zany. One minute everyone will be walking somewhere between point A and B, the next, they're crouching behind burned out cars and houses as aliens pour ungodly hellfire onto them from above. The special effects were also quite good, with the exception of a couple bad animations here and there. That being said, the movie suffers when it slows down. The dialogue is poorly written, and delivered decently, but not well. Aaron Eckhart however did a wonderful job as a stony faced marine staff sergeant who keeps a cool head when under fire. Most of the storyline is pretty standard war movie/alien invasion stuff. You know, when after a bunch of fighting everyone gets discouraged and then the leader gives a big motivational speech and the inspirational music plays and everyone feels heroic.

So don't expect a masterpiece of modern cinema, expect alien guts and lots of shooting and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.