World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles

I went into this movie with low expectations after the relative disappointment which was skyline, a film that promised so much from the trailer and delivered far less.

However, im glad to say any misgivings I had were quickly expelled. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the greatest film ever made, and in many ways it fails to hold a candle to the likes of independence day, which in my opinion is one of the greatest films of its type ever made. It does however, bring a much more up close and personal aspect to an alien invasion. Its more like watching a war filmed in Iraq or something, but that in itself is what separates it from a muddle of recent alien invasion movies that fails to ignite any kind of fire in the mind.

The film moves at an unrelenting pace, with good action sequences and cgi to boot, its predictable at times and the ending fails to come up with something clever or original, but hey ... you cant have everything !!!

Everyone described this film as BLACK HAWK DOWN meets ALIENS and who am I to contradict public opinion . One thing I didn't notice in the reviews was similarity to the John Wyndham novel The Kraken Wakes . Meteors land in the ocean and very quickly alien incursions attack the coastline . One criticism of Wyndham's criminally underrated novel is that if an alien race was this advanced then there's no reason for them to be hostile down to evolutionary psychology . In simplistic terms a civilization alien or otherwise would have to evolve beyond petty tribalsitic squabbles and pool their resources in to conquering physics and mastering interstellar travel . In other words an advanced civilization should in theory be a non aggressive race not bent on conquest

This is speculation of course because there's no evidence that there's life on any other planet and the novels of John Wyndham are quickly forgotten as the laser bolts fly and the aliens emerge from the sea . This is a pity because I was expecting a bit more mystery and suspense allowing the story to breath before the aliens were revealed . It's still not really a great loss at this point because I was still very impressed by the epic scope and spectacle as the marines fly to Camp Pendleton via helicopter dodging airbursts caused by the aliens . As the action then takes place as a ground war in the ruins of LA I was reminded to a certain extent of BLACK HAWK DOWN . The problem after the initial fighting however is that the scale and scope stops and started reminding me of any Michael Bay film you care to mention

Goodbye epic scope and scale we had when the marines were airborne and hello to close up and elliptic editing done via shaky cam . One can understand director Jonathan Liebesman trying to do a sci-fi blockbuster in a realist style but we've seen too many films with " blink and you'll miss it " type editing and you'd think with the utter contempt that many movie fans hold Michael Bay in you'd think most directors would avoid this style rather than constantly embrace it , but no they still continue as if it's part of their job remit . Would I cynical in thinking in this case it's too disguise the fact that the aliens aren't all convincing if you look at them longer than a nanosecond ? Hmm CGI and blink and you'll miss it editing . You spend tens of millions of dollars on a movie and you don't bother hiring an editor or a screenwriter . Remind me why Hollywood producers live in big mansions with a swimming pool while there's so many people with potential living in poverty ?

This is a the type of film like WORLD WAR Z that constantly gets pumped out by Hollywood where there's a germ of a good idea in there somewhere that blossoms in to a big headache inducing mess that makes for a great trailer but doesn't have any substance to sustain it for two hours . Obviously any idiot can be a Hollywood producer but it takes someone of relative intelligence to analyse if they want to spend money watching films like this at the cinema just because the trailer looked good . I'm glad I didn't spend money on a cinema ticket to watch this

Forget what critic (others) says. This movie is enjoyable. Battle LA is one of the finest alien invasion movie. This movie is a third person view of a group of US marines getting their way out of the city invaded by Aliens. Battle LA is a modern combat war experience, no drama no bullshit. It sticks to the reality. Thats where audience lost the point, they expected another pop corn movie like Independence day/2012. But I do agree the movie lacks in some parts which prevents it becoming a great movie.

Visual and sound effects was awesome but camera work would have been better. Sometimes the camera annoys you, sometimes it gives you a first person experience.

On the whole its a close to reality and enjoyable ride. If you like war movies and serious visual & sound experience on big screen, this is the best thing right now.

I saw this film the other day, and I actually really liked it. It was exactly what I expected (maybe a little better). If you want to watch a really well thought out film with lots of character development and interesting subplots this is not the film for you. If you want to watch a bunch of U.S. Marines beat the tar out of invading spacefreaks, then this is the film for you. From when we first encounter the aliens to sometime in the middle, the movie is a nonstop thrill ride. Stuff explodes, aliens get splattered, humans get burned by lasers. In case you didn't already suspect, this film is very violent. Although there isn't a lot of blood, there are certainly a lot of deaths. The action is unpredictable and zany. One minute everyone will be walking somewhere between point A and B, the next, they're crouching behind burned out cars and houses as aliens pour ungodly hellfire onto them from above. The special effects were also quite good, with the exception of a couple bad animations here and there. That being said, the movie suffers when it slows down. The dialogue is poorly written, and delivered decently, but not well. Aaron Eckhart however did a wonderful job as a stony faced marine staff sergeant who keeps a cool head when under fire. Most of the storyline is pretty standard war movie/alien invasion stuff. You know, when after a bunch of fighting everyone gets discouraged and then the leader gives a big motivational speech and the inspirational music plays and everyone feels heroic.

So don't expect a masterpiece of modern cinema, expect alien guts and lots of shooting and I guarantee you will not be disappointed.

Battle: Los Angeles finds Marine Staff Sergeant Aaron Eckhardt ready to call it a career in the USMC. But an alien invasion that is disguised somewhat as a meteor shower upsets those plans. The aliens that are invading are not warrior Klingons or logical Vulcans, in fact they're really ugly and use our own sea water as fuel for their weapons.

I'm not sure of the science with that one, but we've certainly got a ton of sea water on this old Earth. Why the aliens just didn't land somewhere in the Pacific Ocean between South America and New Zealand and take all they need is something I'm still trying to figure out. Instead they land in all kinds of coastal and the world forgets it's feuds and tries to battle back.

The film is very similar to War Of The Worlds as Eckhardt's isolated squad, sent on a rescue mission for some civilians who were left behind in an abandoned police station in Santa Monica get first hand experience up close and personal with the aliens. It's very much like scientists Gene Barry and Ann Robinson in the 1952 classic being left behind and learning about what makes the Martians tick. But these are not scientists, they're making it up as they go along.

Eckhardt is second in command to young second lieutenant Ramon Rodriguez and there's tension there as well.

The acting takes a distant second place to the computer generated special effects. Although the stress of these Marines in combat with a very unknown enemy is telling and portrayed well on the screen.

Battle: Los Angeles is a good, not great science fiction film and it will no doubt attract a cult following of sorts, the same way Starship Troopers has.