“'Battle: LA' is a decent action war flick, but don't look for a broader social message - Great Falls Tribune” plus 1 more |
| Posted: War is hell. And so is alien invasion. That's the long and short of "Battle: Los Angeles," a distillation of grunt's eye-view, war-movie cliches with nasty, insect-like extraterrestrials standing in for every enemy the Marines have ever faced. Yet, despite the plot predictability, the boiler-plate "I'm not gonna leave you behind!" dialog, and stretching too close to two hours, "Battle: Los Angeles" builds enough suspenseful tension — especially in its first half — to take it out of contention for the worst LA-gets-leveled splatter-rama to make it to the big screen. "2012" and "Independence Day" are still duking it out for those honors. Aaron Eckhart is Michael Nantz, a staff sergeant stationed in Southern California who's just days shy from early retirement after a particularly grueling overseas assignment in which several of his men were killed. But, wouldn't you just know it, he can't put his uniform away just yet because that strange meteor shower over L.A.? Turns out it's the first wave of a brutal alien attack. Nantz and his unit are tasked with rescuing a group of civilians trapped in an abandoned police station behind enemy lines in Santa Monica. They've got three hours to get them out, as that's when the Air Force plans to turn the beachfront city into a bombed-out wasteland. Of course, his Marines might as well be from Hollywood Rent-a-Soldier. There's the nervous newbie (Noel Fisher, "The Pacific"), the traumatized and stressed-out (Jim Parrack, "True Blood"), the husband-to-be (singer Ne-Yo) who has so much to live for, and a book-smart second lieutenant (Ramon Rodriguez, "The Wire") who — say it with me now — has no idea what real combat is like. Still, for all of that, the chaotic claustrophobia and the shaky-cam verite realism — despite perhaps summoning the occasional flashback from "Cloverfield" — are effective, especially when the audience doesn't yet know what the aliens look like or what they want. They're just this malevolent force intent on wiping our DNA off the face of the planet. Eckhart displays the requisite square-jawed G.I. Joe ruggedness and the film generally looks good. Director Jonathan Liebesman ("The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning"), working from a script by Christopher Bertolini, does a pretty good job of destroying faux L.A. (it was actually shot in Louisiana, but "Battle: Baton Rouge" probably wouldn't have the same global marketing appeal). Leibesman avoids the usual shots of iconic structures being turned to ash and instead makes the entire landscape a nightmare of twisted overpasses and smoky horizons. But as more is revealed and one battle blurs into another, "Battle: Los Angeles" becomes less engaging and less of a movie and more of a first-person shooter game with better acting. Anyone looking for the broader social implications of, say, "District 9" (which shares some visual similarities to "Battle: Los Angeles") or even "Space: Above and Beyond" — the short-lived, '90s Fox series about Marines in combat against faceless, insect-like aliens — is bound to be disappointed. None of that may matter, though. The door, wide enough to let through a mothership full of angry aliens, is left open for a sequel. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Dan's Review: Battle Los Angeles - ABC 4 Posted: Battle: Los Angeles (Sony Pictures) Rated PG-13 for sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language. Starring Aaron Eckhart, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo, Michael Peña, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez, Cory Hardrict, Gino Anthony Pesi, James Hiroyuki Liao, Noel Fisher, Adetokumboh M'Cormack, Bryce Cass, Neil Brown Jr., Taylor Handley, Joey King, Lucas Till, Kenneth Brown Jr., Jadin Gould, Joe Chrest, E. Roger Mitchell, Rus Blackwell, Susie Abromeit, Brandi Coleman, Elizabeth Keener, Jessica Heap. Written by Christopher Bertolini. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. GRADE: B+ REVIEW: What would the world do without the American military? Not only do our men and women in uniform have to invade a bunch of countries to keep the peace, they have to be the last line of defense against extraterrestrials, as well - at least that's what the movies teach us. From Independence Day's story of a but-kicking U.S. president piloting a fighter jet into battle, to the saga of the mechanical Transformers, it's clear that no alien force can match wits with a few good American men and women who are always able to overcome superior technology, anatomy and numbers to kick a little E.T. butt. In Battle Los Angeles, the alien horde arrives in what appears to be a meteor shower, but it doesn't take long for the smart people to figure out they're not meteors. Despite efforts to evacuate all the major cities of the world, the critters begin annihilating all the humans. Enter America's military heroes, and one particular group of U.S. Marines led by Staff Sgt. Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), stationed at Camp Pendleton near San Diego. Nantz is a career soldier haunted by his most recent military action in the middle east where he lost some of his men. Other marines in Nantz's unit are dealing with their own problems and and family issues. When the aliens invade, Nantz and his men are given the assignment of rescuing some civilians who are trapped at a police station near the front lines (Santa Monica). Nantz's platoon, under the command of a greenhorn lieutenant (Ramon Rodriguez) soon finds out they are in way over their heads, but do their best to get the handful of people to safety. Along the way, Nantz and the Marines learn a few things about the anatomy of aliens, which look like some sort of large bugs with embedded weaponry inside them. The rescue hits more than a few snags as the aliens kick the Marines' around, but Nantz formulates a hypothesis along the way that will eventually lead a discovery of the extraterrestrials' vulnerability. The platoon also picks up a few stragglers from other military units, including a tough Air Force recon sergeant named Santos (Michelle Rodriguez). Will Nantz and a few grunts take down the millions of invaders using only a few small arms and pure Leatherneck moxie? Besides the predictable ending and worn-out premise, Battle Los Angeles is a pretty fun movie that moves along fast with plenty of mindless action. Sure, it's bogged down with boatloads of patriotic military speeches and corny dialogue, but that doesn't wreck the 'shoot-em up' ride. There are also plenty of technological absurdities, like surviving a large C4 explosion's concussion from 15 feet away, but who cares? Testosterone must be served, and Battle Los Angeles is a smorgasbord of gung-ho action and heroism that should please anyone who loves their country, and a good first-person shooter video game. There are other deficiencies in Battle Los Angeles, like an unintentionally funny scene where Nantz and a civilian veterinarian (Bridget Moynahan) dig into an injured alien's body looking for it's heart, or brain, or whatever makes it tick so they can know how to kill it, resembling some sort of sick version of the electronic board game Operation. There are also several improbable moments of drama in which the main characters resolve their deep psychological war wounds with a few battle field speeches and a few seconds of glory. It would have also been better if the movie showed the demise of the L.A. Lakers, but that's just the Jazz fan in me talking. Again, who cares? Battle Los Angeles isn't Citizen Kane, but a mindless, fun, action movie that guys will love - because sometimes you just gotta blow stuff up. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
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