Review of Battle: Los Angeles (2011) by Steven C — 06 Apr 2012

It should surprise you that I am moderately recommending a film like "Battle: Los Angeles," a sort of hybrid of "Independence Day" and "Black Hawk Down," two films that I generally despise.

Now, "Battle: Los Angeles" is a very simple film. The plot is simple, a group of Marines have to defend LA against an alien invasion. The characterizations are simple. The direction is simple (handheld cinematography galore).

Even the special effects are simple. But what sold me on the film was that it was very confident in what it wanted to be (unlike the horrendously self conscious, genre hopping, "District 9").

"Battle: Los Angeles" just wants to be a boots-on-the-ground war film that has aliens as the enemy and it works reasonably well on that level. I also appreciated that, unlike almost every contemporary war film out there (minus "The Hurt Locker," obviously), this is not a military recruitment video.

The film treats Marines with respect but never shoves their lifestyle down your throat. In fact, everything about "Battle: Los Angeles" is respectful. It never once treats it's audience badly.

You get large action scenes interchanged with the requisite human drama, none of it is overdone or sappy, just enough to justify each characters existence. I also enjoyed the stream of conscious storytelling approach, it keeps things constantly moving and always engaging.

Now, don't get your hops up to high, because this is pretty thin stuff. But if you are looking for an utterly harmless alien invasion picture that is moderately exciting, "Battle: Los Angeles" is your ticket.