Review of Battle: Los Angeles (2011) by Reviewerman44 — 01 Jul 2011

I walked into Battle Los Angeles hoping for a different alien invasion film. One that would be both creative yet action packed. I walked out somewhat happy. Battle Los Angeles in short, is the same ol' story you've heard 100's of times before.

Aliens have come to planet Earth and they are not nice, they have one thing in mine, destruction of the human race. Enter Aaron Eckhart's character, (who for the life of me I can't remember the man's name) an old ravaged marine who has a notorious reputation for reasons I won't discuss (part of the story).

But the thing is, Battle LA distinguishes itself from the alien film crowd because it feels more like a an action packed, adrenaline pumped, war flick. Put it this way, if you tried to combine Saving Private Ryan and Skyline, with the hand held camera of Cloverfield, you pretty much get Battle Los Angeles.

(*hint* this movie is twenty times better than Skyline) From then on the story kicks off and gets very intense, heartpounding, and emotional. Most of the film coincides into absolutely brilliantly shot firefights and shootouts with a gritty and mature feel.

And that's about it, Battle Los Angeles doesn't feature a story that will blow you out of the water, but incredible action sequences. However the acting in Battle LA is pretty good, mainly because of Aaron Eckhart, who absolutely outdoes himself on all accounts, only everybody will be thinking of Two Face when they see his character.

There is however one very, very, very emotional moment where many loose ends are tied up and it ends in a bittersweet, sad, but beautiful moment where Aaron Eckhart delivers the speech of a lifetime. The last thing worth mentioning is the ending which leaves something to be desired.

It's not that it's bad, it's just that you feel left robbed of an ending that actually "feels" like an ending, one that ties it up more. Overall Battle Los Angeles is the movie I was hoping for, but not as creative, story driven, or as much of an end of force I had hoped for.