Hello everyone, so don't expect many of these over the next few weeks as I am finishing up college, I am luckily on break and got a chance to see a film I have been wanting to see for a while. Enjoy:
Imagine a world in which aliens were to invade the world. Coming from the sky, crashing into our coastlines and other areas around the world, its an event we didn’t see coming. Now, we are under attack from forces unknown and we must fight back or else it is all over. What will we do? Can we defeat them? Have I heard this before?
To start off, no I am not talking about Independence Day. In fact, I am talking about Battle: Los Angeles, a film by South African director Jonathan Liebesman. The story folds out as a race of alien invaders come down to earth and attacks earth for our supplies, namely our water. As cities around the world seem to fall, it looks as though Los Angeles has become the last stronghold in the fight for survival. It is up to Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), and his rag tag crew of marines to fight back this army from beyond the stars and save our planet, before its too late.
Now, I know I might be sounding sarcastic as I right this, but this is about as best I can write the plot to this film. The action is top notch, sometimes a little too much at times to the point where I have to look away just to take a breather. The aliens aren’t all that scary, in fact they are hardly shown, and when we finally get to see them, you will understand why we rarely see them. The script can take the biggest blame of all, its rather laughable. Every other line is one of them saying something you’ve heard millions a time over in other films, its really quite unspectacular. The acting is rather lacking, we have Michelle Rodriguez in a role we’ve seen her play many times before, which isn’t a bad thing but we also don’t see enough of her to really enjoy her presence as I’ve had in the past, much like with other alien film plots, District 9 being an exception to the past few years.
Aaron Eckhart might be the one big exception to the poor dialogue and acting here, and ultimately the one who anchors the film. He has done great work in the past and this is far from his best, he helps make some of the dialogue and scenes in general feel real and powerful. Other than him and some of the action scenes, which shows hints of Black Hawk Down among other films, Battle: Los Angeles is a film with high ferocity, but little left to be desired. If this film helps us learn anything at all its that aliens never come for peace, whether or not that makes us more xenophobic, or I guess Baaraparchuterphobia (I just googled fear of aliens), this film doesn’t exactly make our planet a very welcoming environment. If anything, we are slowly showing them ways to improve their defense when attacking us. So for goodness sake, either stop making alien films or make a good one that doesn’t give away too much, is that too much to ask?
Jack’s Grade: C+
