Battle: Los Angeles

Due to decorating and kiddie-related commitments, we only had the time for one film this Friday. Fortunately, we picked a corker out of all the new releases.

Battle: Los Angeles

“Retreat! Hell!”

Plot-in-a-nutshell: Aliens invade for no readily-explained reason, and a bunch of US Marines have to rescue some trapped civilians amongst a huge amount of gunfire, explosions and CGI. “Plot” may be overstating things.

Anyone watching the trailer will think this is just a rip-off of last year’s excruciatingly awful Skyline – a film which managed to be pretty much average for most of its length before ruining it with a ridiculously awful last few minutes. In essence, the plots (what they are) are very similar. Aliens invade with no notice at all and start killing people.

B:LA focuses on the military end of things whereas Skyline went for the civilians. Both begin in the thick of things for a coupe of minutes followed by a “24 hours earlier…” text frame and some backtracking. The newer film, however, has far better action sequences, some genuine tension, superior CGI, characters you actually give a crap about and an ending that doesn’t look like it was tagged on when someone suddenly noticed they had $100 and 2 days left to finish the filming.

To say that B:LA lacks originality is a little unfair given the current climate for remakes, sequels, adaptations and rehashes. It’s got elements of Black Hawk Down, Independence Day and umpteen other war and sci-fi films. What it lacks in originality it makes up for in bangs, explosions, bullets and action. It is almost non-stop warfare from the fifteenth minute and it’s a superb ride as a result.

The only real “name” actor in it is Aaron Eckhart who plays Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz, as central a character as there is. He’s an experienced soldier who, surprise, had a bit of a bad mission and is trying to seek retirement. Just as hands over his papers, those pesky aliens go and turn up. Typical.

Marine lifestyle and terminology is apparently fairly authentic. A unit local to the filming location (Louisiana) was drafted in to act as both consultants and extras.

Don’t expect to be blown away by the storyline, but it’s a tense military action film with a good mixture of set pieces played at the right pace. Pure popcorn entertainment of the highest level.