Battle: Los Angeles is a war movie first, science fiction second. It's got it all: a burned-out retiring sergeant who gets drawn back in because, dammit, the Marines need him; the guy who's about to get married; the guy wh... more »o's still a virgin; the guy suffering from shell shock and who just might crack; the newbie officer with a lot of book learning who you just know is going to freeze under pressure and have to be shepherded by that burned-out sergeant, who learned his lessons on the battlefield? and so much more. There's not a moment in this movie you haven't seen before--the only twist is that the enemy is alien, so whatever shred of concern you might have for raining heavy artillery on a fellow human being can be cheerfully cast aside. But clichés are clichés because they are efficient and effective, and despite the profound familiarity of Battle: Los Angeles, there's no denying the movie rips along (though two-thirds of the way through you may have forgotten who was the virgin and who was the shell-shocked guy--but really, does it matter?). The look owes a debt to District 9, a hand-held, vérité grittiness, with most of the CGI carefully given a dingy, dirty look so that it meshes with the urban landscape. Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) does an impressive job of spitting out ham-fisted dialogue like he really, really means it, while the rest of the cast is suitably generic. This is an unrepentant love letter to the military; many viewers, faced with the unsettling chaos and moral ambiguities of real wars, will find this mythologizing not only soothing, but even moving. --Bret Fetzer« less
I like this movie a lot. It's filled with action, and the scenery is real, not all fakey CGI. Much was filmed in the Ocean Park area of Santa Monica, where I once lived, and it's fun to see them blow up places I know. I don't usually watch military movies much, but this one was intriguing to me.
3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.
Callie K. (ballofglitter) from GRAND ISLAND, NE Reviewed on 9/9/2014...
I would give this movie one star because i thought it was just incredibly horrible. It's boring at the beginning, doesn't explain any character only shows a name on screen and when it gets to the battle it's so fast paced you can't tell what's going on. Also they took something based on a true story and completely over did it. I had to give it a 3 though because my husband thought it was pretty awesome.
0 of 1 member(s) found this review helpful.
Michael H. from BLACKLICK, OH Reviewed on 2/8/2014...
I don't understand why this movie bombed at the box office. I thought it was awesome! There was never a slow point in the movie. There was lots of action and the right amount of character development. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.
3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.
Chad B. (abrnt1) from CABERY, IL Reviewed on 2/8/2012...
Pretensious boring junk.
This film takes just about every cliche one can imagine fro bot the war & alien invasion genres and merges them together to form an incoherent mess. If you've seen mars Attacks,ID4,BlackHawk Down,Platoon,etc you'll know exactly what to expect.