Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

About halfway through Battle: Los Angeles we are treated to a news report of scientists who are speculating on why the aliens are attacking Earth. Apparently, the aliens are draining the earth’s oceans, and from this the scientists conclude that they must be after our water. After all, Earth is the only planet with liquid water near its surface according to one scientist. Now, I am not an expert on these things, but I find it hard to believe that these aliens who have traveled across the galaxy to invade another planet could not have collected some ice from comets, or simply just synthesize water from hydrogen and oxygen. It is a very nitpicky point, but when you are faced with a movie as dull and lifeless as Battle: Los Angeles these small points become hard to ignore.

The film begins with a series of meteor showers near major populations centers around the world. It turns out the meteors are actually a part of a large scale invasion force to conquer Earth. In Los Angeles, a group of U.S. Marines is deployed to evacuate civilians and defend against the alien onslaught. This is essentially Black Hawk Down with aliens, and we spend the whole time with this squad of marines giving the viewer the feeling of an “embedded” journalist following a group of soldiers.

Aarron Eckhart plays the leader of the squad, and his performance makes the film much more bearable. He looks, and acts well in the role of a strong and gung-ho Marine leader who is also dealing with the regret of losing men under his command. His character spouts a lot of clichés throughout the film, but Eckhart does a great job of making them sound convincing and a bit inspiring.

The rest of the characters are a parade of clichés, and there is no emotional or visual impact as they are picked off over the course of the film. In fact I can barley say who died and who survived in this film since all the deaths are quick and bloodless to fit the PG-13 rating. The action in Battle is also poorly done. With too much shaky cam, and a lack of engaging action set pieces, the firefights are confusing and ultimately pretty boring.

The aliens themselves are also a disappointment. We pretty much learn nothing about them, and their design is pretty uninspired and basic looking. The film builds to a pretty predictable conclusion as the squad assault the alien mother ship in LA.

All in all I don’t have many good things to say about Battle. It is pretty much a paint by numbers war film which features aliens, and a whole bunch of gunfire and explosions, but not a lot of depth or great dialogue. With all the alien invasion movies out there to choose from it wont be hard to find something better.

4/10