Review of Battle: Los Angeles (2011) by Joe W — 27 Aug 2013

Not as bad as people will make it seem. Sure it's your typical, balls to the wall alien invasion action flick, but there are good parts to this movie.

While some think the characters lack depth, I don't think so. While most think these were just meathead Marines, I like that these characters managed to have their own personalities but still manage to work as a cohesive unit. Ssgt. Michael Nantz's (Aaron Eckhart) reluctant but solid leadership lends itself to some of the most poignant moments of the movie.

The plot, while it's not 5 star, still is pretty good. The premise is that the aliens are "colonizing" Earth to grab its most precious resource, water, which is like oil to the aliens, since all of their machines run off of it (pay attention to the News reports, it's right there dummies!).

I thought the CGI was just fine, not spectacular but not bad.

The big pitfall of this movie is that they build up these aliens as being smart and powerful, the Marines still have time to goof around, have elaborate conversations and give clever quips. This deflates any tension they previously built up.

Still a pretty good movie, worth a rent.