Rated PG-13 for sustained and intense sequences of war violence and destruction, and for language
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo, Michael Pena
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Or should I say genres. The movie is essentially an attempt to bridge the gap between being a war epic and an alien invasion thriller. A sci-fi "Black Hawk Down" if you will. Of course, movie history has blessed us with grittier war movies and more impressive science-fiction fare. That represents the cliff that director Jonathan Liebesman ("The Killing Room") and his filmmaking crew are trying to scale. (It also bears noting that these two genres have been combined before. James Cameron's "Aliens" was an infinitely better film.)
Perhaps "combination" isn't the right word here. Despite the sci-fi story injections, "Battle: Los Angeles" has the definite look and feel of a war movie. Cinematographer Lukas Ettlin has taken a page from the Ridley Scott visual playbook, employing a twitchy camera style common in war stories. The movie introduces us to an umpteen number of soldiers, each time offering us a superimposed name graphic to identify them. This is done under the ludicrous assumption that we'll be able to keep track of all the characters based on a three second identifier.
The one character we will certainly get to know is staff sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), a war veteran whose last tour of duty resulted in the deaths of several soldiers under his command. The details are sketchy, but we know off the bat the deaths were not the result of negligence. Nantz is clearly broken up by what happened.
Nantz is thrust back into active duty when a race of alien beings invades cities around the world, including Los Angeles. The aliens somewhat resemble the Prawns in "District 9" although we don't really get a good up-close look at them. Between the explosions, debris, smoke, not to mention the Los Angeles-patented smog, it's a wonder anything is visible. While other military units secure various perimeters, Nantz's unit must rescue a handful of civilians, remove them from harm's way before a scheduled air raid obliterates what's left of the city.
Director Liebesman has studied the visual techniques utilized in previous war movies. The firefight sequences are surprisingly effective. Confusion and fear choke the air, as soldiers struggle to separate the innocent civilians and fellow soldiers from an alien species whose identifying traits are a complete mystery. The film certainly leans more toward the war genre, and is aided by a solid production design.
While decent on a technical level, the movie struggles quite a bit with character development. The benefit of films dealing with actual wartime events is the historical context itself. Good screenwriters understand how to incorporate that very context into the characters... their perceptions, hopes, fears, and prejudices, thereby giving those movies a colorful narrative periphery. A more nuanced story arc. Here, though, screenwriter Christopher Bertolini doesn't have that luxury. As a result, all we're left with are cliched elements seen in lesser movies. The tortured hero. Subordinates who don't trust him. Characters who die at the most serendipitous times... just when the plot requires a galvanizing speech to be delivered. The character development really pales in comparison to the film's technical skill.
Having said that, I give a lot of credit to Aaron Eckhart. He possesses a grounded, low-key credibility that serves him well here. He never loses his air of authenticity, even when reciting occasional lines of dialogue that would have made George C. Scott blush. At times, the movie comes dangerously close to losing its grip on the reins, and sliding into glossy patriotic rubric. It's Eckhart's grounded persona that keeps the film in check.
It's not really an awful movie. Just not as significant as the filmmakers think it is. Or expected it to be. It may very well appeal to mass audiences, especially to those who haven't experienced a plethora of classic war films or more daring science-fiction material.
As for me? I think I'd rather go home, curl up on my couch, pull out my DVD copy of "Aliens" and allow myself to get wrapped up in an adventure pitting a Marine corps unit against a school of slimy alien starfish-like entities that attach themselves to the human face, implant an embryo into their digestive tract that results in a monstrous alien that bursts through the victim's gut spewing blood in varying directions. Call me old-fashioned.
* * out of * * * * stars
