Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

A Surprisingly Unforgettable Movie!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

All that we are seeing on the screen is happening with real people, real action sequences in the background, forcing the eye to watch as if we were there.

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

I know many people have rated this movie poorly. That's unfortunate because they miss many excellent points about the movie. First, this is really a good enactment of small unit action in a difficult situation. Troops put into action against an apparent superior opponent, trying to save a city. Throw in a hardened SSgt that his troops don't like for various misplaced reasons and the development of an esprit d corps among all the characters combine to make an enjoyable movie. It's not that predictable. Just cool your jets, sit back and enjoy.

There are quite a few flaws in this movie, but all in all, it's really enjoyable. The characters are at least relatable and you can feel the impact when someone dies. It focused on showing more grit and chaos then a lot of movies like it. It doesn't feel over done with spectacle and explosions. I liked it. Fun to watch.

It's black hawk down with aliens. Very entertaining, I wish they made more sequels. I had so much fun watching.

It's all a matter of taste, I suppose. If you're really into the action stuff - and if you are, that's great - you'll love this movie. There's lots of action in this. Lots of gunfights, lots of combat. What was believed to be a meteor shower actually turned out to be aliens whose ships land in the oceans and start to attack 20 earth cities. Obviously, this movie centres on the battle for Los Angeles, basically following a platoon of US Marines as they do battle with the bad guys from outer space and try to protect a few civilians they come across while doing so. Beyond that there's no real plot or story to this. We really don't learn very much about the aliens or why they were attacking - except that they wanted our water. It reminded me a little bit of War of the Worlds - although that (actually both movie versions) was better.The characters really aren't especially fleshed out or interesting. We get a bit of a backstory on Staff Sargeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhardt.) He had led a platoon in Afghanistan or Iraq (can't remember if it was named specifically) and lost some men. He blames himself for their loss and was getting ready to retire until he was sent back into battle with the platoon fighting the alien invaders. Fortunately for him the brother of one of the men he lost was in the same platoon. So there's a bit of interplay there, some mistrust, some respect having to be re-earned. But basically this was about the battle. It went on for too long. It was well portrayed, but after a while I started to lose interest, to be honest, because it didn't really seem to be going anywhere, and you knew eventually where it would have to go - these aliens would have to be defeated. So, for about half the movie I was paying attention; then my mind did begin to wander a bit as I waited for the end.What it comes right down to is that this is pretty standard stuff about an alien invasion of earth. There's nothing especially unique about it to capture or hold your attention. If you like non-stop battles with invaders from outer space - this is your kind of movie. For me: 4/10