Take every cliche moment of every "It's the end of the USA(World)" and some B quality camerwork that can't decide between being an action flick or a war documentary and you have Battle: Los Angeles.
I'm giving this a 2, as the quality of action was decent and saved it from being a 1.
One thing that the critics are saying about "Battle: Los Angeles" is true. There is a lot of shaky cam. In fact so much that it can be a bit disorienting at times. But I'll give the director the benefit of the doubt. If there was ever a case to be made about portraying something in a disoriented fashion ground warfare would be an ideal candidate. I actually found that as the movie marched on the shaky cam treatment seemed appropriate. Now I don't think that this movie was anything other than a mostly exciting war film. The characters are thin in that we don't know a lot about them other than the exposition at the beginning of the movie which I did not like. It was too forced. Also the aliens were obviously a major threat to Earth but seldom were they intimidating and never were they an ominous force. But that's really where my mild disappointment ends. I really enjoyed the portrayal of the military here. I thought it was very respectful of the very difficult responsibility they have to protect the country. And for once there were no psychotic dysfunctional Marines. Just good guys fighting the bad guys. The ground battle was actually pretty realistic outside of a couple of miraculous rescues where I can't believe no one was hit by gunfire or shrapnel. The special effects were very good and the alien design was better in my opinion that those so loved in "District 9". Don't believe what the mainstream critics are saying about this film it is a fast-moving intense experience.
Someone paid money to have this made.
Dummies invaded LA, bought to find their space ship on blocks and their daughter knocked up
Intense but seriously, a laser had to guide the missiles to a giant building size thing floating in the air??? And what about that ending? Marines are so tough they don't need sleep or food???
If I have to hear "Staff sergeant" one more time i'ma lose my shit. Its too long.
It's hard to give a rating at this movie.
Yes, it's no good movie
Yes, it's a military movie about honor and so on.
BUT (!) the action scenes are great.
What they did right:
+ Battles and action scenes -> great
+ Aaron Eckhard -> good actor
What they did wrong:
- To big plot
- Obvious plot-"Twists"
- Annoying soldier-blabla. Don't get me wrong, they can do it. But why these cheesy lines?
- The movie is way too long.
In the end: 4/10
Good, entertaining action... Definately somewhat cliches and too much patriotism... But overall entertaining to watch...
I enjoyed it... Actually liked the way the movie starts with complete chaos, no one knows what to do in such a situation... and when you think about it, you can train as much as you want... We will NEVER be fully prepaired for AlienInvasion...!
So I'd say 7/10
Black Hawk Down and Independence Day had a baby, and it was a-ok by me.
Great movie, showing from Marines point of view what an alien invasion would be like, we have had the scientist version done to death, and loved that this had the look and feel of films like Saving Private Ryan and Black Hawk Down, I personally would have loved a franchise of these movies......Battle:New York, Battle:London!
"Shit, I'd rather be in Afghanistan."
Ok so this was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Doesn't mean it isn't bad, just not AS bad. Minutes in the concept seemed like it would be pretty interesting but the delivery and dialogue was a bit rough.
It wasn't bad... but, it was just so average and forgettable.
I literally have nothing to say about this movie, I've forgotten almost all of it except the basic structure. I remember enjoying it, so that's why it's below average.
We see her again and we still like her, that fight at street level. How good are the movies with shots to Michelle Rodriguez
With the use of camera used try to give a realism to the film that does not exist anywhere. An incorrect approach that harms a very weak film in itself
Excessive shakycam. My grandma could film better.
What's not to like great visuals great surround sound effects guns aliens explosions perfect bloke movie.
not that bad imo, but a bit to much like Independence Day
Who the hell throws up after 5 beers?
It was bad (I think) but I had so much fun making fun of it that I will definitely see the next one hahahahaha. I made a kissing noise during a really intense part of the movie and me and my best friend lost our shit laughing... Great times good memories they can have my money for a sequel
20 minutes too long... but feels like an hour. So much promise wasted. Had some great moments, unfortuately they were strung together with the flooded bowels of diarrheatic elephants.
The flag waving teeters over the edge desperately holding on to cliche to stop it becoming a stain on the pavement far below. Shame it butter fingers.
The design on the aliens and their tech was fantastic; well considered.
It can smell the stank and rather than run for the air freshener it wallows in its own filth.
Great over the shoulder camera work, outside that details the movie sucks.
crap indeed !!
this was better than Skyline. Skyline kinda sucked :(
America! Semper Fi! Strong Manly Men to provide a father figure I wish I had!!!
Sucks.
Seems like everyone else that couldn't take the cornball american exceptionalism/militarism are not over here. Let me tell you, that stuff sucks even more when you're in the belly of the beast.
Is it me or does Aaron Eckhart really look like a women in the movie poster?
I thought Skyline was much better, which is saying quite a bit.
Almost as bad as Skyline...
ID4 + Halo + Black Hawk Down = superb action. A bit too much with the cheesy American patriotism - but other than that a great popcorn flick and I really enjoyed it.
Typical exasperating american movie glorifying the USMC. Put north koreans or talibans instead of aliens and you'll get the same film...
Actually, it is "Heartbreak ridge" with aliens...
A lot of cliches got into this movie. The sergeant that quits on the day the enemy attacks, the rookie army guy and finally the sergeant who has a stroke of genius and knows how to take out the enemy. All covered in thick layer of American military propaganda and a hint of patriotism.
When i saw the trailer the first time thought this was the movie to see this summer, but i can see now that i had it horribly wrong.
Black Hawk Down meets Independance Day. I personally loved it.
Can't believe I wasted two hours of my life watching this - yawn.
Good firefight movie. It was definitely better than Skyline and I had a lot of fun watching it.
I like most of what Aaron Eckhart does though. He's usually pretty engaging to watch and his roles are well played.
patriot crap
I thought it was great!! Great movie!!!
a typical ''only the USA kicks everybodys ass'' movie.story is boring and action is fine!
A little better than Skyline but still nothing great
a great “war” movie but not so interesting plot.
Shout by typicalhumanVIP 10BlockedParent2011-06-17T17:39:26Z
DarkmasterCh1ef wrote:
a typical ''only the USA kicks everybodys ass'' movie.story is boring and action is fine!
Yeap.... so far, the way it is.