movie review battle los angeles

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Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - June 14, 2011 Screen Formats: 2.40:1 Subtitles : English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Portuguese: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); DVD copy; Bonus View (PiP); BD-Live; movieIQ Playback : Region Free

Supplements:

Commentary :

Special Features:

• Command Control:
• Behind the Battle (1080p, 6:44):
• Aliens in L.A. (1080p, 17:57)
• Preparing for Battle (1080p, 5:15)
• Boot Camp (1080p, 10:18)
• Creating L.A. in LA (1080p, 5:45)
• Directing the Battle (1080p, 6:33)
• The Freeway Battle (1080p, 5:18)
• Previews (1080p)
• Battle: Los Angeles PS3 Wallpaper

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Battle: los angeles.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 22 Reviews
• Kids Say 60 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Violent alien invasion movie is a waste of time.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that this violent alien invasion film is more or less a war movie in disguise, with constant fighting and shooting, explosions, death, and blood. Between the violence and the strong language (including "f--k" and many uses of "s--t"), it pushes as far as it can get with its PG-13 rating. All of…

Why Age 15+?

This movie is an almost constant battle, with a plethora of guns and shooting. M

Language is strong and frequent, pushing the boundaries of a PG-13 rating. Words

Some billboards can be seen, including Pepsi and Panda Express.

Any Positive Content?

The soldiers show bravery and positive thinking, and they work together well, so

Despite the movie's nonstop violence, it does promote the value of teamwork and

Violence & Scariness

This movie is an almost constant battle, with a plethora of guns and shooting. Many characters get shot and die, and there's a generous amount of blood. There are also grenades, missiles, and big explosions, as well as general devastation and destruction. In one graphic scene, the heroes "operate" on an alien body, looking for major organs in an attempt to figure out how to kill it.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language is strong and frequent, pushing the boundaries of a PG-13 rating. Words include one "f--k," as well as many uses of "s--t," plus "ass," "hell," "goddamn," "Jesus Christ" (as an exclamation), "damn," "bastard," "oh my God," and "son of a bitch."

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

Positive role models.

The soldiers show bravery and positive thinking, and they work together well, solving problems and eventually triumphing over the odds. Nantz is haunted by past battles and terrible mistakes he's made; his men don't trust him, but he demonstrates admirable heroism. He shows inclusiveness and empathy toward the story's civilians.

Positive Messages

Despite the movie's nonstop violence, it does promote the value of teamwork and thinking positively.

Parents need to know that this violent alien invasion film is more or less a war movie in disguise, with constant fighting and shooting, explosions, death, and blood. Between the violence and the strong language (including "f--k" and many uses of "s--t"), it pushes as far as it can get with its PG-13 rating. All of that said, although the movie isn't very good, some of the characters do behave admirably and could be considered positive role models who work well together. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (22)
• Kids say (60)

Based on 22 parent reviews

Has strong messages of: commitment, dedication, heroism, bravery, and the will to overcome seemingly impossible odds.

What's the story.

In August 2011, meteors begin approaching the Earth; they turn out to be alien invaders bent on colonizing our planet. The military underestimates the threat, and soon everything comes down to one band of scrappy young Marines. Troubled veteran Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz ( Aaron Eckhart ) winds up in charge, despite rumors that he once let several of his men die in battle. Making their way through the ruined concrete jungles of the bombed-out city, Nantz and his warriors pick up a few stranded, brave civilians and slowly begin to discover their attackers' secrets. But can they put their knowledge to good use before it's too late?

Is It Any Good?

Director Jonathan Liebesman unhesitatingly leaps into the fray with his camera twitching and lurching, capturing more flying metal and concrete dust than actual characters or aliens. But even though he chooses, disappointingly, not to linger on the invading creatures, BATTLE: LOS ANGELES is not a subtle movie. It's 100% devoted to rampant destruction.

It's possible to actually recognize some of the actors -- Eckhart , Michael Pena , Bridget Moynahan , etc. -- through the haze and the Marine uniforms and helmets, but none of them has anything much to say; sometimes it's hard to hear anything above the noise, and sometimes the music blares at the top of everything. There's hardly a breather or a moment to connect with anyone. Once upon a time, alien invasion movies were about ideas. They usually managed to tell us something about what it means to be human. Battle: Los Angeles only shows what it's like to waste everyone's time and money.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about the movie's extreme violence , fighting, and death. Is it necessary to the story? Does it send any particular message?

Is the movie scary ? Would it have been scarier or less scary if it had shown more of the aliens?

What's the appeal of alien invasion movies? Do they play on any real-life fears?

Movie Details

• In theaters : March 11, 2011
• On DVD or streaming : June 14, 2011
• Cast : Aaron Eckhart , Bridget Moynahan , Michelle Rodriguez
• Director : Jonathan Liebesman
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
• Studio : Columbia Pictures
• Genre : Science Fiction
• Run time : 116 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language
• Last updated : May 13, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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What to watch next.

War of the Worlds

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Best alien movies, sci-fi movies.

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Battle: Los Angeles: movie review

High-energy sci-fi, 'Battle: Los Angeles' is full of intense action but little in the way of character development.

• By Peter Rainer Film critic

March 11, 2011

Mysterious objects – meteors? – are streaking toward Earth, and not just any old place on Earth. Major cities – London , Paris ... Los Angeles ! The home of Hollywood and all things shallow. What better place to pulverize. But wait – it gets worse. These UFOs turn out to be alien invaders. And only the Marines can stop them.

Maybe the Marines should consider using “ Battle: Los Angeles ,” about which I cogitate, as a recruiting tool. Sure, it’s tacky, and the hovering alien space drones look like hairy chandeliers, but the Marines come out on top – sort of. It’s difficult to determine if these aliens, once they die, are really dead. It all gets pretty gloppy.

Aaron Eckhart plays Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz , who is about to retire when the aliens pull him back in. With his hawklike profile and square jaw, the hyperstalwart Eckhart looks like a comic-book hero and acts like one, too. He’s so stalwart he creaks.

Is “Battle: Los Angeles,” which was directed, rather enterprisingly, by Jonathan Liebesman , a metaphor for the U.S. immigration problem? It’s certainly a metaphor for something – maybe Hollywood’s hidden desire to see itself go up in flames? When the military brass warns that “we’re about to be colonized,” you wonder if they mean to shut down the borders. It’s probably not coincidental that the film is replete with Latino actors, or that one of the prime subplots involves a Hispanic father trapped behind enemy lines with his young son.

If “Battle: Los Angeles” has a message, it’s probably this: We need our human aliens to fight off space aliens. Grade: C+ (Rated PG-13 for sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language.)

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Battle: Los Angeles Review

Battle: LA , or Battle: Los Angeles , or even World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles is not a bad movie, but it sacrifices so much in the name of speed, and it relies so heavily on cliches, that you are left with no real attachment to anyone on screen. There is one section that attempts to artificially create a connection by introducing a situation that is supposed to be filled with drama and tragedy via a couple of kids, but when it is over you will not care in the least.

Many of us have had high hopes for this film. Even the most ardent and hardcore film critics have a soft spot for a good disaster flick, and when you mix in a battle on familiar soil against alien invaders, the potential for awesomeness is apparent.  The idea of a movie set in a warn-torn LA just looks and sounds cool. The result though is an average, but mostly forgettable action flick that fails to grab you and does not live up to its potential. There are a a few cool parts, but not enough to save the bad ones.

Take THAT LA

If you have seen even the smallest and briefest of trailers for Battle: LA —or even if you have seen a single poster for the film—then you know the plot. Aliens invade the planet, and the film focuses on the fight in Los Angeles. Everything else is details.

The star of the film is Aaron Eckhart, who plays Marine Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz, a guy that has seen his fair share of action — maybe too much — and after hitting his 20 years he is planning on retiring to civilian life. But before he can move to Florida and play shuffle board, a series of meteors is heading for Earth, and the world is on alert. When it appears that the falling objects are slowing down, the military is mobilized and Nantz’s retirement is refused.

The movie speeds through this section, and within minutes of the opening credits, a full blown invasion is underway. Cities across the globe are under attack, and it is obvious that there is no peaceful solution. The invaders want our water and our resources (and our jobs, if some politicians are to believed), and they are prepared to wipe out all humanity to get them.

Battle: LA is about the fight, not the war. There is no real sense of scale, instead the action focuses on one particular group, led by a fresh out of the academy Lieutenant, and supported by Nantz who replaces the unit’s own sergeant that is gone for some vaguely explained reasons. But Nantz’s arrival is met with anger, and his past actions may have cost the life of the brother of a corporal in the squad.

The unit is soon tasked with heading to a police precinct to answer a distress call and evacuate survivors before an airstrike levels the beach areas. From that point on, you can expect a handful of clichés that will drive the movie until the third act, when things pick up and the mission changes.

Michelle Rodriguez also appears around this time as an Air Force Technical Sergeant who arrives with a vital piece of plot point. She and most the cast do good jobs, but they just don’t have much to work with.

The third act of the film is fairly fast-paced and entertaining, but the first two acts are slow and at times border on annoying. While jumping into the action and skipping a long buildup to the invasion sounds great, it also robs the film of any suspense. Sure, you know what will happen, but in films like these, or any film where there is a big battle, having that calmness shattered by the first moment of the attack is expected, because it works. Think Saving Private Ryan ‘s push to the beach, or even Independence Day ‘s countdown timer reaching zero. In Battle: LA , the emphasis is entirely on the small group of Marines, and the early parts of the invasion are mostly seen through news reports that people are watching. There is a flash forward which begins the movie, but putting aside the cheap nature of flash forwards in general, it screws with the pacing badly.

But, once the battle has begun, things are odd. As you would expect in reality, the aliens are well armored and difficult to kill. Sure, that makes for some tension, but it’s not much of a battle. Later, the soldiers and a civilian discover the weak spot on the aliens, and — as if by magic — the Marines then become the equals of the invaders. That is far more interesting for the action, and the battles are much better when it is an actual battle and not just one side getting murdered, but it doesn’t make a lick of sense.

Next Alien Invasion, Leave the Kids at Home

Once the squad reaches the station, two civilians — including the lovely Bridget Moynahan — join the film. Michael Pena also appears, but with the two come three terrible decisions on the filmmakers’ part: children.

The children in this film have one mission, and that is to be a problem later on. You know it is coming — you might hope it won’t but you know it is. Of the three kids, one has a few moments of development, while another is a weeping plot point, and the other literally disappears for most of the movie.

The children seem to be there for one reason, and one reason only—to put everyone in jeopardy which in turn is meant to humanize the Marines, who up to that point were mostly nameless.

The film tries to offer a handful of moments before the invasion which are meant to relate the characters to the audience. Those moments though are all generic, and most of the squad will be forgotten, as will their plot points. They are pretty thin to begin with.

Sergeant Nantz’s retirement is forgotten so quickly that you wonder why it was ever there, and the only remaining plot thread — that of the soldier blaming Nantz for his brother’s death — feels forced. In fact, almost all of the plot threads designed to humanize the characters feel forced. And then there are the kids. Ye Gods, the kids.

There is one reason, and one reason only to have the kids in the movie, and it is exactly what you hope it won’t be. In a moment of crisis, when the Marines are under fire and trying to escape, the crying, weepy kids are suddenly rendered utterly incompetent, and are so fear-stricken that people die trying to protect them. I hate them all, and most audiences will too.

Attack of the Action Movie Cliches

When you have a movie that is neither plot drive, nor character driven, you are left with a movie based on the setting. In this case the setting is an alien invasion, and unfortunately director Jonathan Liebesman ( The Killing Room, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning ) and writer Christopher Bertolini choose to drive the action with clichés, which further highlights the weak characterizations. You have the green Lieutenant who does exactly what you hope he won’t, the grizzled Sergeant with a heart of gold and more courage than John Wayne, the civilian deadweights, and on and on. The Marines are also stereotypes in general, as they are all the bravest, toughest SOBs on the planet. And hey, Semper Fi, but without any character to go with it, the film feels shallow and forgettable.

There is also a cliché unique to alien invasion movies that is both ridiculous and powerfully dumb, but it is convenient so it keeps coming back. Say you are an invading force. Your military is 100 times tougher than the invadees, and things are going well. But then there is that one thing — be it a command center, or a mothership, or whatever — that “exhaust port on the Death Star” like design flaw, that leaves you vulnerable.  Not just vulnerable, but totally defeatable. It is not the best of planning to have that one structure be the lynchpin of your entire operation, and if it is, defend the damn thing!

Sure it makes sense that in a movie with a superior alien force, the only way to even the playing field in movie terms would be to have one element that could shift the balance. In the terms of Hollywood it makes sense, but it has been done, and it is a bit dumb. Just had to throw that out there.

Now, while there are several bad plot decisions, no characterizations worth mentioning and clichés galore, there are several redeeming qualities to Battle: LA . Once the action picks up, it is fairly exciting. The dumb kids slow it down, but that doesn’t stop some of the fights from being entertaining to watch, even though you probably won’t really care too much when Private Thatguy bites it.

The final third of the movie is also fairly entertaining, as the Marines decide that if anyone is going to destroy LA, it is going to be humans (and possibly budgetary concerns), and so they decide to fight back. Again, the magical discovery of the aliens’ weakness is helpful here, and even though it doesn’t make a lick of sense to have the invaders who were just hours ago nearly invincible suddenly become average in strength, it makes for good action scenes. There is also a time jump from the middle of the night to mid morning, but that is besides the point.

The conclusion of the movie would be an awesome setup for a sequel, and now that the setting is firmly established, a follow-up movie might actually be a pretty decent.

The best way to describe this film is to say that it is basically a video game brought to life. In fact it would actually make an awesome video game, and with a few more enemies to shoot, you wouldn’t even need to change the plot even a little. The problem with that though is that video games make you buy into the characters by controlling them. You relate to them because you are them. In Battle: LA , you don’t control anyone, and no one really stands out that you can relate with, except maybe Eckhart. The result is a movie where you neither care, nor know most of the characters.

The effects are more or less solid. There are a few moments when the alien CGI looks weird, but the shots of LA burning are fairly memorable. The deserted and ruined streets of LA are also interesting, but you never really get a feel for the scale of the destruction. You either see the close up shots of a single torn up street or maybe the interior of a building, or a wide shot of the city in flames. There really aren’t any moments were you witness the destruction firsthand. There is a reason that disaster movies always pick on landmarks–it connects you to the action.

Battle: LA is a forgettable movie that has a few cool moments, but it just takes the easy path over and over again. The cast turn in solid performances, but they aren’t given much to work with. There are never any moments where you will be shocked, and as much as you might expect it, with maybe one or two exceptions, none of the scenes are really that cool to look at—and those that are, are all in the trailers.

So if you are bored one afternoon day, or you just have an intense hatred of Los Angeles, you might want to check out Battle: LA . If you are into little things, like a compelling storyline, good characters and originality, maybe Battle: New York , or Battle: Fort Lauderdale , or whatever, will be a better fit when it comes out.

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• DVD & Streaming

Battle Los Angeles

• Sci-Fi/Fantasy , War

Content Caution

In Theaters

• March 11, 2011
• Aaron Eckhart as Staff Sgt. Michael Nantz; Ramon Rodriguez as Lt. William Martinez; Michelle Rodriguez as Technical Sgt. Elena Santos; Gino Anthony Pesi as Cpl. Nick Stavrou; Cory Hardrict as Cpl. Jason Lockett

Home Release Date

• June 14, 2011
• Jonathan Liebesman

Distributor

• Columbia Pictures

Movie Review

Marine staff sergeant Michael Nantz is a hard-as-nails fighter who’s good at what he does. But after his last tour in the Middle East, he’s also a man carrying around some pretty hefty emotional scars. And so he decides that after he gets this last batch of recruits up to speed, he and the service will part ways.

But, of course, this is a sci-fi war flick, so you know the sergeant’s plans are about to change.

What appears to be a cluster of meteors hurtling toward Earth turns out to be nothing less than a perfectly orchestrated alien invasion. They come crashing down into the ocean along the Western coast of the U.S. and reportedly at various other locales around the world.

Nantz isn’t concerned with the rest of the world. He’s focused on protecting his own home of Los Angeles. As the alien storm troopers swarm, San Francisco and San Diego quickly fold like a couple of cheap suits. And L.A. isn’t doing all that well either. The invasion is so quick and ruthless that the higher-ups determine the only course of action is a massive retaliatory bombing raid—on our own soil.

And as the plan calls for literally obliterating Santa Monica, that’s where Nantz comes in. He and his platoon have three hours to get to a coastal police station and rescue as many holed-up survivors as possible. It’s something of a suicide mission. But somebody’s got to man up and do the right thing.

Positive Elements

The film stresses the value of human life by way of Nantz’s mission of mercy. All members of the armed forces comport themselves with bravery and valor. But it’s Nantz and his platoon who repeatedly put their lives on the line to protect the innocent. And it’s Nantz in particular who is exemplary in this area. Several times he’s willing to strike out on his own to either draw enemy fire away or search out a means to destroy the deadly aliens.

Through dialogue and a few brief scenes, we’re also reminded of the power and great value of marriage and parenthood. A civilian father, for example, takes his young son to personally thank Nantz for his bravery. And later the man steps into what he knows to be a deadly situation to protect his son and others.

Spiritual Elements

A Marine’s devotional highlights the phrase “Through Christ comes freedom.”

Sexual Content

Some of the platoon members joke about a comrade’s virginity. A Marine cracks a sexual joke after a female soldier is splashed with a dying alien’s bodily fluids. One of the rescued civilians shows cleavage.

Violent Content

From the opening attack—that showcases fireball-blasted ships and screaming innocents being blown up on a beach—to the final blood-smeared combat, Battle Los Angeles is one intense firefight after another. We see elevated views of a devastated L.A. mangled and burning from the alien assault. But most of the action is much more visceral and up close, and includes human fighters being hurtled in all directions and fried by laser blasts.

A Marine is shot through his helmet, and we see the burning and bleeding results. Dead bodies litter the streets. A man’s skin is crisped and cracked by fire. A helicopter full of the wounded is blown to smithereens—sending the dead and large chunks of shrapnel flying in all directions.

Perhaps the goriest scene takes place when Nantz determines to find a way to kill the seemingly indestructible enemy. He finds a wounded alien and, with the aid of a civilian veterinarian, begins to cut and stab into the creature, exposing its internal organs and searching for a weak point. After several gooey and spurting attempts, they finally hack into the creature’s core and it gurgles its last.

Other conflict includes high-powered weapon blasts that crater and obliterate scenery, city vehicles and enemy drones like so much crepe paper. Armored vehicles smash through groups of aliens, crushing them beneath their wheels. A dying Marine detonates a bag full of C4, igniting a bus’s fuel tank and tearing the vehicle (and surrounding enemies) to pieces. Several soldiers bury the barrels of their weapons inside a large enemy before unloading clips of ammo.

Crude or Profane Language

One f-word. About 35 s-words. Twenty or so uses of “h‑‑‑.” Over a dozen each of “d‑‑n” and “a‑‑.” A handful each of “b‑‑ch” and “b‑‑tard.” God’s and Jesus’ names together are misused well over 20 times. (God’s is combined with “d‑‑n” on at least a dozen occasions.)

Drug and Alcohol Content

Partyers down bottles of beer and harder alcohol, too. One Marine gets so drunk he vomits. Another slips a bottle of prescription drugs into his bag.

I generally like to sit quietly and listen in on an audience’s reaction both during and after a movie. This time I heard more than usual. Moving toward the exits, folks were excitedly burbling such things as, “It was so intense!” “I couldn’t help ducking,” and, “I’m just exhausted!” There were references to Independence Day , Cloverfield and Skyline .

Time reviewer Richard Corliss also references some of those movies, but without any of the excitement I heard at the theater. “[Director Jonathan Liebesman aims] for the high-concept brainlessness of Roland Emmerich, who merrily imperiled the planet in Independence Day, The Day After Tomorrow and 2012 , and the large-scale Lego-rrhea of Michael Bay’s  Transformers movies.” Then he adds, “Screenwriter Chris Bertolini matches Liebesman idiocy for idiocy.”

Combine his comments with my theater-mates’, and you end up with the specter of a very violent PG-13 war flick that sometimes evokes memories—if not the artistic or historical capabilities—of Saving Private Ryan’ s brutally bloody battles.

There is, without question, enough self-sacrificial heroism and valor under fire here to fill at least three John Wayne classics. And the never-leave-a-man-behind oorah rings out loud and clear. But as whiz-bang stimulating and salute the flag stirring as the movie may sometimes be, I’m forcibly compelled to quickly return to its abundance of flesh-searing violence, and incessant and battering foul language. (Not to mention the dizzying shaky-cam delivery system.)

Enduring those nasty bits, with your popcorn and soft drink in hand, may not level L.A. or be as deadly as an alien laser blast. But it’s still gonna leave a mark.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Battle: Los Angeles Review

11 Mar 2011

116 minutes

Battle: Los Angeles

There’s one tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment in Battle Los Angeles which hints at an interesting film director Jonathan Liebesman – the man who brought you the Texas Chainsaw prequel and that Tooth Fairy movie Darkness Falls – chose not to make.

Early on, a couple of grunts wonder aloud in thudding dialogue whether the aliens they’re fighting are soldiers following orders just like them. Later, after much computer-game style ET-blasting carnage, there's a busy skirmish between Our Side (the US Marines, hoo-rah!) and Them (Evil Alien Bastards) in which it’s easy to miss a little vignette of two aliens pulling a wounded comrade out of the line of fire. So they’re not a hive mind or zombies or robots or insects and might have more complicated characters than we’re allowed to see.

Liebesman isn’t interested in competing with District 9 or Monsters, though, just in trashing Los Angeles (a city of no strategic value whatsoever) and shooting aliens. The menace comes from spindle-legged, semi-armoured, mushroom-headed, welded-on-weapons monsters the like of which we’ve seen a dozen times before, and the heroics are delivered by the sort of soldiers who were cliché as John Wayne hit The Sands of Iwo Jima let alone when Clint Eastwood stormed Heartbreak Ridge.

Here are the types we get: a veteran sarge on the point of retirement with an ill-earned rep for getting his men killed, a wet-behind-the-ears lieutenant who was top of his class but has never been in combat, the hot chick who’s just as tough as any man (Michelle Rodriguez owns the patent on this), the guy with glasses who’s getting married soon, the combat-stressed infantryman eager to be declared battle-ready again, the cool guy with a moustache, etc. Civilians and kids show up to be rescued and related to, but they’re only the sort of baggage which comes with video game war challenges. The burning wreckage of Santa Monica isn’t played for the sacrilegious frisson of America invaded found in Red Dawn or even 1941. The hand-held camera, in-the-thick-of-the-action confusion and clouds of smoke tricks of Saving Private Ryan now feel so familiar that what was once innovative is now rote.

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Battle Los Angeles (2011)

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Battle Los Angeles (United States, 2011)

Perhaps it's a backhanded compliment to acknowledge that, as would-be "event" films about alien invasions go, Battle Los Angeles is superior to both Independence Day and Skyline . Nevertheless, the movie is likely to miss the mark for anyone in search of something more than a noisy, kinetic way to spend a couple of hours. Of the roughly 110 minutes of non-credits screen time accorded to the story, about 90 of those are taken up by a "you are there" perspective of firefights with aliens. That means a lot of shooting, enough explosions to make Michael Bay happy, and a fair amount of dying. It also means confusion resulting from an overreliance on hand-held cameras. If the intent is to convey to the viewer the chaos and disorientation that occurs in the middle of a pitched battle, Battle Los Angeles succeeds. If the goal is to unveil a coherent narrative, it does not.

Watching Battle Los Angeles is akin to observing someone else play a video game with top-notch production values. For a while, it's fun, but immersion is born of involvement. Take away the interactivity, and it's a considerably less entertaining experience. In that way, this movie is a bit of a tease; the viewer is never pulled in the way the filmmakers want him to be. For about 30 minutes - maybe a little more, maybe a little less - Battle Los Angeles is fast-paced and energetic, but the repetition kills the momentum and, by the time all the shooting has come to an end, the production has overstayed its welcome. It might be different with well-developed characters or a story that offers more depth or breadth, but the movie is predominantly pyrotechnics and, as impressive as some of those are, they don't warrant two hours worth of screen time.

To its credit, Battle Los Angeles gets off the ground running. The backstory is conveyed economically and the characters are introduced quickly and cleanly, without the soap opera-ish subplots that pollute a lot of disaster movies. Granted, clichés abound, but at least we don't have to suffer too much through faux character building. The downside of this is that we never develop much interest in even the most prominent character, Sgt. Michael Nantz , who is only marginally more recognizable than anyone else because (a) he has more screen time, and (b) he's played by recognizable actor Aaron Eckhart. Beyond Nantz, there aren't many standout faces. Exceptions include Lt. William Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez), because he's in charge: Joe Rincon (Michael Pena), because he's a civilian; and Sgt. Elena Sanchez (Michelle Rodriguez), because she's a she. Everyone else blurs together and, if this was Star Trek , most of them would be wearing red shirts. When one of them is killed, we're not entirely sure which one he is. Someone should have studied James Cameron's Aliens for a primer on how to quickly give personalities to a group of marines in a bad situation.

Battle Los Angeles opens with a 20-minute "prologue" in which we are informed, mostly via TV news reports, that a cluster of meteors impacting Earth's oceans near populated shore areas are actually extraterrestrial invaders. Their weaponry is superior to ours but they appear to be ground-restricted (no air support). Forward military bases and civilian population centers are quickly overrun. In Los Angeles, Santa Monica is being sacrificed. The air force will begin a barrage of bombing in three hours; a unit led by Lt. Martinez and Sgt. Nantz has that long to get into the contested area, rescue survivors taking refuge at a police station, and get out. That element of the story takes up more than half the running length and unfolds much like a "quest" or "mission" in a video game.

With the exception of the occasional exposition-laden scene, there isn't much dialogue, which is fortunate considering how cheesy some of the lines are. The actors are all surprisingly good in these undemanding roles. Eckhart brings a gruff likability to his part and there are times when he almost transcends the one-dimensionality of his character. None of the other actors are as successful in imbuing underwritten individuals with more than a scintilla of humanity, but they try rather than merely sleepwalking through the part on the way to cashing their paychecks.

The special effects aren't as numerous or omnipresent as one might expect from an alien invasion motion picture. For the most part, the extraterrestrials are seen in the distance, silhouetted against the sky as they attack from the high ground. The use of shaky, handheld cameras allows the filmmakers to be less precise during action scenes than they would have to be if events were being recorded using a steadycam. This is director Jonathan Liebsman's first big budget feature, although he has titles like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and The Killing Room on his resume. Whatever his previous endeavors might have taught him, one unlearned lesson is that the path to sustained suspense lies in putting a well-developed character in harm's way. No one in this film comes close to being partially developed, let alone "well-developed" so the relentless, non-stop firefights eventually grow tiresome.

Still, for those who are more interested in cinema that's purely visceral and visually energetic (albeit chaotic), there's some value in Battle Los Angeles . More importantly, it isn't as insulting as Skyline . Many of its lapses are consistent with genre-wide problems, where big concepts can have difficulty making the transition into strong screenplays. As alien invasion motion pictures go, this is a minor effort and its release in late winter, when multiplex audiences are only beginning to come out of hibernation, is well-timed. It's not a summer blockbuster but neither is it the complete garbage movie-goers expect in January and February.

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Screen Rant's Vic Holtreman reviews Battle: Los Angeles

Battle: Los Angeles (or if you're into the "texting" version, Battle: LA )  was #4 on our 2011 Most Anticipated Movies list - and as we've made clear before, just because we have a lot of anticipation for a movie doesn't mean we know it's going to be great .

Well Battle: LA isn't great - but for a March action movie I'd call it at least good.

This film brings us yet another alien invasion story, with aspects we've seen before in movies in this genre - and others as well. Reminiscent of Independence Day , the story revolves around just a couple of days of events - the day leading up to the invasion and the day of. We're introduced to the marines who we will spend time with throughout most of the film one by one in a well meaning but clunky attempt at audience "insta-bond." As the film goes on you sort of get attached to a couple of them, but with most, not.

We're soon introduced to Staff Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), a career marine who's getting up there in years but is still a guy who is in the field instead of behind a desk. He's on his way out when what seems to be a meteor shower hits the Earth, but ends up being (of course) an alien invasion. Things ramp up quickly and the military is called into action to evacuate the coastal area of Los Angeles, as the new arrivals waste no time proving that they do NOT come in peace. Our team of marines is tasked with evacuating any civilians that may still be located in Santa Monica, which will be bombed all the way to the coast in an effort to decimate the alien ground forces. Once they get into the area, the trick is getting out alive.

If that sounds faintly reminiscent of  Black Hawk Down , rest assured that is not the only similarity. Battle: Los Angeles is shot in an unvarnished way - the intent being to make it seem like we're on the ground with these forces and it's played completely serious - you won't find any of the sort of humor that was in Independence Day despite the similarities to that film. This is presented as a realistic war film, albeit where the enemies lend an unreal quality.

Along with Black Hawk Down , there are scenes reminiscent of District 9, Aliens and I'm sure you could pick out a few other films as well. And I'm here to tell you, if you HATE shaky cam - this is NOT the film for you. It is used to excess here right from the start. A very basic scene that took place in an office with Nantz talking to another officer had so much camera movement that I thought maybe the cameraman had some sort of muscular control problem. Compounding this is the constant use of EXTREME facial close-ups, which made me wish I had sat a few rows further back.

Where the film excels is during the battle sequences that are quite intense and really put you in the thick of things. Where it does not, is when it tries to convey the (seemingly obligatory) little personal moments between characters. It's very clumsy and oh so clichéd almost every time - except for one scene in the third act where I would say the skills of Eckhart carry the simple but effective dialog and a scene between him and another marine actually packs an emotional punch.

While there are some weak performances, Aaron Eckhart does an admirable job as does Michelle Rodriguez for the short amount of time she has on the screen. A couple of the supporting characters drew me in as well, despite not having much time to do so with so many actors vying for camera time.

Another thing that I found quite gratifying (and I may get arguments on this, although I don't know why) is the portrayal of the U.S. military in particular and America in general. It harkens back to old war movies - you know, the ones where the soldiers were actually portrayed as heroes instead of villains or mentally damaged people. There were a couple of battle scenes were I'm not embarrassed to say that I felt a rush of pride at seeing the actions of the characters on the screen in battle and in the protection of civilians.

Director Jonathan Liebesman didn't have the best script to work with here (by Christopher Bertolini ) - clunky dialog and not really what you would call a complex story, not even by a long shot. But given some decent material to work with, I look forward to seeing what he does in the future (he's directing the Clash of the Titans sequel ). As far as this film goes, I do recommend seeing it on the big screen because in addition to the battle scenes, it has some pretty impressive sound design that is worth experiencing in a theater.

I'm thinking that while the film is not the greatest thing ever, suffers from uber-shaky cam, runs too long and is getting a drubbing by critics, that audiences will enjoy the "feel good" portrayal of the military and maybe find some catharsis in seeing them battle easily identifiable, no-grey-area villains.

Here's a trailer for Battle: Los Angeles :

[poll id="131"]

Battle: Los Angeles

After aliens start a surprise invasion on Earth, Ssgt. Michael Nantz leads a group of marines that is the last line of defense for the planet. Battle: Los Angeles stars Aaron Eckhart as Nantz alongside Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Michael Peña, and Ne-Yo. Upon release in 2011, Battle: LA got largely negative reviews from critics.

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Movie Review: 'Battle: Los Angeles' - It's Not Really About the Aliens

Contrary to appearances, invasion film "Battle: Los Angeles" is not science fiction. Yes, there are aliens, but the movie is as much about extraterrestrial life as "Taxi Driver" is about public transportation. They're a means to an end and nothing more.

The " Battle: Los Angeles " aliens are hardly seen, and when they are, they appear to be some sort of biomechanical hybrid — fairly interesting territory explored plenty of times in works from "Blade Runner" to "Battlestar Galactica," but pretty much glossed over here other than a scene in which soldiers figure out where to aim their fire.

No attempt is made to give any insight into the invading alien forces , including where they came from, and the only motivation disclosed (something about consuming Earth's resources) is  presented in the form of stray guesses from talking heads on TV. Aliens and humans are battling and it is indeed happening in Los Angeles, but there's no real indication as to why.

"Independence Day" made a lot of money with effectively the same approach back in 1996, and in "Signs," directed in 2002 by the pre-laughing-stock M. Night Shyamalan, the unknown about the otherworldly visitors was the entire point. [ 10 Alien Encounters Debunked ]

Yet in the post-"District 9" world, there is something unsatisfying about being presented with a group of antagonists so deliberately unambiguous. None of that makes "Battle: Los Angeles" a bad movie.

It's clear that, despite the marketing campaign's efforts to tie the film to the 1942 air raid scare known as "the Battle of Los Angeles" — which some believe to be evidence of contact with UFOs — the movie is never about the aliens. It's a war movie, with an apolitical enemy that the audience doesn't have to feel guilty about as they're being blown away by members of the U.S. military.

On that level, it works to an extent. The easy comparison is to first-person shooter video games like "Call of Duty"; the main characters all fit that pixelated mold, starting with Aaron Eckhart's Marine Staff Sgt. Michael Nantz.  

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Nantz is a tough yet compassionate veteran harboring a terrible secret, one he carries with him nearly all the way to the third act. Eckhart's acting has drawn acclaim in films as diverse as "The Dark Knight," "Rabbit Hole" and "Thank You For Smoking," but here he doesn't have much to do other than rattle off rah-rah clichés along the lines of, "We make our stand here"(though he does a more-than-able job of that).

The rest of the cast plays similar stock characters, including Ramón Rodríguez as an in-over-his-head officer straight out of training, and Michelle Rodriguez in the prototypical Michelle Rodriguez role she's been associated with for most of her career. (This time she's a member of the Air Force who enters the fray during the attack on Los Angeles.)  

There's also a group of civilians along for the ride — it's a worldwide invasion , but the entirety of the movie focuses on a small group in the city, led by Michael Peña and a barely noticeable Bridget Moynahan, who aren't called upon to do much more than react.

"Battle: Los Angeles" is definitely the highest-profile film of Jonathan Liebesman's directing career — past credits include horror films "Darkness Falls" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" — and for roughly two hours of reasonably likeable good guys versus faceless bad guys, it's entertaining enough.

But if the idea is to show all of the "cool" explosions and gunfights associated with war while staunchly avoiding all of the consequences and moral complexities that come with real life — well, why not just play a video game?

Albert Ching is a staff writer for Newsarama.com , a sister site of SPACE.com.

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Watch CBS News

Movie Review: 'Battle Los Angeles'

March 11, 2011 / 1:40 AM EST / CBS Philadelphia

By Bill Wine KYW Newsradio 1060

It's a paranoid actioner in a paranoid age, featuring aliens versus Marines.  No, not that kind of aliens. The kind from much farther away, not the ones who are looking for jobs.  These aliens are after our water.

The story was inspired by what's known as The Battle of Los Angeles or The Great Los Angeles Air Raid, a falsely suspected air raid of LA that occurred -- or didn't occur -- during World War II.

If the subject matter sounds familiar, that's because it was comedically addressed in Steve Spielberg's 1941 , in 1979.

When the movie begins, the invasion has already begun.  Before long, Eckhart and the rest of the platoon are dropped behind enemy lines, in a ruined Los Angeles patrolled by the heavily armed extraterrestrial invaders, to rescue a group of humans before the neighborhood -- Santa Monica -- is leveled by our military.

Director Jonathan Liebesman (whose underwhelming résumé includes The Killing Room, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, and Darkness Falls ), raises his game a notch or two, working from a wading-pool-shallow screenplay by Christopher Bertolini, whose lack of interest in character delineation is not especially problematic given the genre.

But scenarist Bertolini does take the time to offer moments of reflection, even as director Liebesman attempts the manner of a documentary-like war flick, hoping to give the chaos of combat a visceral kick with claustrophobic settings, shaky handheld camerawork (that will have some viewers reaching for the Dramamine), and (mostly) computer-generated aliens.

Limited perspective is the name of his game, both in terms of the audience seeing only what transpires in Los Angeles even though similar battles are being fought in countries all over the world; and in terms of our inability to see the aliens very clearly, at least in the early going, something the on-screen soldiers are also struggling with as we share their grunt's-eye-view.

Ultimately, it's the combat, the explosions, and the special effects that are carefully sculpted, while the characters, human and alien, are mostly treated like interchangeable props.

This is a one-dimensional film, the plain and simple mounting of a military offensive (well, no, de fensive) with minimal concern for character or theme or nuance.  The problem is that, when intense combat footage is extended for a considerable time without interruption, there can be a numbing effect. Imagine, for example, if the style of the spectacular opening sequence in Spielberg's masterpiece, Saving Private Ryan, was maintained for several hours.

Battle Los Angeles (titled World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles outside the US) flirts with that propensity, but stops just short of it.

Each time it seems that Battle Los Angeles might devolve into a glorified video game, director Liebesman interrupts the combat action with a quiet, emotional exchange that, good or bad, gets the film back on track and us back in its corner.  As does Eckhart, the remarkably reliable yet strangely undervalued leading man who gives yet another strongly authentic performance in a film that does not exactly showcase sensitive acting.

So we'll attack 2½ stars out of 4 for Battle Los Angeles, a rugged sci-fi action flick that also serves as a love letter to the Marines, highlighting their resolve and resourcefulness, and nearly turning the film into a two-hour recruiting poster.  Not, as they say, that there's anything wrong with that.

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