metallica1417

World Invasion: Battle LA, Battle: Los Angeles, whatever title you know this film as you've probably all heard one word that sums it up; "meh".

I know that's what I heard and what my friends heard both from other friends and acquaintances and of course the Internet. So I went into this film with pretty low expectations despite it having Aaron Eckhart attached. I was really surprised though. Hell, if I scored this as exactly what it is, an action film, it'd get a 9 or 10 but for the sake of the angry Internet masses I'll rate it as a film in general lest this review be cast aside as being written by "mouth breather action fan #219024".

The film spares little time on back-stories and such and focuses on getting into the action, of which there is plenty. It's all very pretty. Big explosions, lots of firefights and so on, good for the popcorn industry.

The film does have it's dramatic moments but they are well placed and handled rather well without becoming too campy or reeking of soap opera crud like some films. It's actually rather surprising how much you end up feeling for the characters despite being given so little to work with in terms of character development.

Eckhart is, as always, superb. Lending a realistic portrayal of a soldier rather than being a typical action film grunt. The remainder of the cast also perform really well. Not the most solid performances of all time but far from lacking save for Michelle Rodriguez. I like her tough-girl portrayals in other films, she does quite well but in this she does very little which is a tad disappointing.

All in all, the effects are superb and the action and stakes are high! This may not be a perfect film by any stretch but anyone disappointed by it raised their expectations too high for what is clearly an action film. Sit down with some mates, grab the popcorn, crack a beer or more, sit back and enjoy the ride. This film delivers exactly what it intended to with a little bit added on for good measure.

Battle: LA, you get a 7/10.

P.S. Let us just be thankful it wasn't a Michael Bay film.

If CoJ2 is the best western game on offer the definitely count me out...this has to be one of the worst games I've ever played in all aspects.

Story, graphics, gameplay, everything...it is all hideously flawed.

Story-wise; talk about "meh" we have two gung-ho idiots that are about as intelligent as a mentally handicapped 5 year old. We have the younger goody goody brother who can't stop ranting about the Bible and the Lord, the selfish wh*re who uses people to get what she wants but is never truly blamed for being the cause of all the trouble and so on and so forth. If the character isn't a cliché then he suffers from poor character development, there is a problem with them all...

Graphics wise; horrible by major release standards. Dodgy voice acting/lip sync work, a terrible over-use of character models, don't even get me started on the ridiculous draw distance of the game...it's ridiculous. This is the standard I'd expect from an extremely light-weight game developer with minor league game publisher funding and where are the real graphic controls? I've seen better graphic controls on flash games.

Gameplay; talk about BOOOORRRING...if you're gonna try and add an open world approach then look at games like Far Cry 2 or the GTA series. Adding random optional linear side missions and the ability to ride around looking at nothing does not make an open world/sandbox style game. There needs to be some substance to the world one can explore...not just randomly scattered bandit attacks on civilians where every third one consists of the exact same scripting and voice overs.

Speaking of voice...what is up with these brothers making almost the exact same remarks every 20 seconds..."two is hardly a challenge" etc etc etc...hearing these remarks constantly is slack. I thought FC2 was bad with random guys talking about another guy shooting himself in the foot...at least I only heard that about once every half hour...

On another topic, the aiming system is shocking. By gaming standards, when a crosshair goes red or whatever colour when passing over an enemy, that doesn't mean a near miss that blows his hat off, that means a hit...that is how proper hit-boxes work. The hit-boxes in this game are atrocious. I've been right next to countless enemies, my gun and crosshair smack bang aimed in the middle of his face and then fired several shots only to find one shot actually hit and even though it hit him in the face, it didn't kill him...

Really guys? This is the best western themed game on offer? This is the best Ubisoft or anyone else for that matter can provide? This is lucky to get a 3/10...only because it gave me something to do, though I only played as long as I did in hope that it would redeem itself...to no avail.

Ever gotten it on with a really hot person and been totally disappointed with how it all turned out? That's what you'll get with this film. No suspense, no thrills in sight the entire time. Rather than sitting on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next you sit there yawning wondering when will something happen at all. However I will hand it to the person/s who designed the creature...it's interesting and very unique but it was still not enough to make up for the rest of the film being a complete waste of time which was even worse due to the immense hype surrounding the film. You feel nothing for any of the characters, there is no storyline to speak of really so I can't comment on it as it pretty much didn't exist.

Just my two cents on the film.