Review of Battle: Los Angeles (2011) by Battlerager — 12 Mar 2011

A quality, and easy to enjoy sci-fi/sci-"fantasy action" film. Don't approach the movie as if it is on a pedestal, is there some "Marine Propaganda" in the film? Of course - as much as Independence Day, Black Hawk Down, Saving Private Ryan instilled a sense of American-bravado, this film does something similar...the good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad. There is no attempt to humanize the invading forces, they are attacking us, and we are defending ourselves - it's as simple as that. There isn't any crazy secret plot., it's a straight action and suspense film with a good science fantasy backdrop to the picture. The music? Any score by Brian Tyler is epic, and it does immerse you in the picture. The action style is a mix of Black Hawk Down/Cloverfield/Documentary style that tries to engage you in the action directly. There are a few epic battle shots that show the overall scenario they are facing, but not many. If you are expecting hundreds of fighter planes like Independence Day (which I loved), you don't see that in this film. This is squad based combat, following the actions of 8-12 marines...and you do get the feeling of being in the trenches with them.

Something I loved, and the Director has mentioned trying to achieve - the aliens move as a military force. They appear to have a hierarchy, leadership, individual actions - it doesn't follow the stereotypical aliens acting as a "hive mind." They have goals, are brutal in their attacks, but function as a military unit. They don't wipe out entire cities AKA some sort of super weapon, they engage in direct combat - one of the few movies to pit Earth forces against Alien invaders on a somewhat similar scale. They have better technology, but they don't overwhelm everything - requiring plot hole trickiness for their defeat.