Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

Featured Audience Ratings

• John M

  
  Well I went in not expecting a great super movie. What I got was 2 hours of Halo :) A combination of Black Hawk Down style war movie with Halo aliens. It was a solid fun two hours. I enjoyed it. Many others will not but for me I looked past the cliched characters to just enjoy the… More
  Well I went in not expecting a great super movie. What I got was 2 hours of Halo :) A combination of Black Hawk Down style war movie with Halo aliens. It was a solid fun two hours. I enjoyed it. Many others will not but for me I looked past the cliched characters to just enjoy the action and the explosions. It was a fun sci-fi action ride. Go in with high expectations and you may be disappointed. Go in with your eyes on some popcorn fun and you will be delightfully surprised.

• Anders G

  
  Alien invasion movies have a tendency to be... well... bad. None of them seem to get it just right. They focus too much on the wrong things and they usually are way too long for their own good. Over the years they have gone from low budget B-Movies to over budget summer blockbusters,… More
  Alien invasion movies have a tendency to be... well... bad. None of them seem to get it just right. They focus too much on the wrong things and they usually are way too long for their own good. Over the years they have gone from low budget B-Movies to over budget summer blockbusters, but they still can't seem to get into their groove. The way I see it is that they probably never will, but what they can do is give a breath of fresh air into the genre. A good example of this is 2009's District 9, which changed the whole concept of alien invasion into a more realistic style. Aliens living in slums, considered as lesser being to humans. This made me realize that the real way to go about making a good alien invasion film is by making it realistic. This is pretty ironic because the whole concept of alien invasion films are pretty unrealistic. Still, it works, and apparently Battle Los Angeles took the same lesson and applied it to its Black Hawk Down-meets-Indepence Day style invasion film. But does it help or hinder it? The film is about a group of soldiers that are called to L.A. to help an evacuation when fast moving U.F.O.'s are spotted heading towards the cost. Things quickly go down hill when aliens appear from the objects and attack the city. What was originally an evacuation becomes a rescue operation when the troops are ordered to head to a police station where civilians are holding up and take them back to the forward operations base. They are under a time limit though because in three hours the air force is going to level L.A. because the aliens apparently have no aircraft of their own. The make it to the police station and find that their are only two adults and two children still alive. But when the three ours are over, the bombs don't come falling down, and the soldiers start to realize that things maybe a lot worse than they had expected. The first thing I noticed about the film is that it isn't designed as specifically an alien invasion film, but also a war film. It may not make much sense in writing, but it is really noticeable in the film. Rather than it being about the whole idea of an invasion, it is more about a war where one side is a group of alien invaders. It also avoids many of the huge wide angle shots that make up most of the time in alien films. Instead it uses shaky camera battle scenes in the deteriorating streets of L.A. This is very different from most invasion films, and I kind of enjoyed it. But as you can see from my rating of it, it wasn't perfect. And one of the things I stated earlier caused me a lot of problems when I was watching. This was the shaky camera. For those who don't know; the shaky camera is a technique used in films when the director wants to either make the film seem more realistic or make the entire audience puke out the popcorn they were just eating. And the movie is so repetative! I mean, really repetative! It's actually really annoying because it isn't even repeating creative things as if the writers were like, "Hey, thats a good idea! Lets reuse it, like, five times throughout the movie." The things they were repeating were stupid clitches that didn't even want to see once, let alone 5 more times throughout the movie! Another thing that got on my nurves was Aaron Eckhart. I didn't find that he really fit in with the movie. I don't really know why, but it really feel like he shouldn't have been in the movie. In the end, I'd have to say... meh. I mean, it wasn't anything special and anything original in it became old really fast. If it had relied less on war and alien invasion movie clichés it might have been more entertaining than it ended up being. But it's too late for that, so I've gotta say, It's a 50/50 chance that you'll find enjoyment out of this film. So, if you like those odds than go see it, but I wouldn't personally recommend it.

• xGary X

  
  A squad of US Marines are sent into war-torn Los Angeles to rescue a group of stranded civilians during an alien invasion. The comparisons to Independence Day are obvious, but Battle: Los Angeles takes itself far more seriously than Roland Emmerich's fun-filled cheese fest. In… More
  A squad of US Marines are sent into war-torn Los Angeles to rescue a group of stranded civilians during an alien invasion. The comparisons to Independence Day are obvious, but Battle: Los Angeles takes itself far more seriously than Roland Emmerich's fun-filled cheese fest. In fact Johnathan Liebesman has clearly seen Black Hawk Down one too many times and I suspect that writer Christopher Bertolini gets slightly tumescent every time he sees an army recruitment poster. It's basically just a generic war film with added aliens but the script makes the usual mistake of concentrating on action rather than story, resulting in a bunch of characters that are introduced only through ten minutes of soap opera at the beginning and never interact again apart from bellowing military jargon at each other punctuated by teary-eyed flag saluting and laughably sentimental cliches. This means that although the action sequences are very impressive, it's pretty hard to care what happens to anybody so any emotional drama or suspense instantly evaporates. It's nowhere near as wretched as Skyline, but little more than a corny old John Wayne war movie with a face lift, this film is a joyless, mechanical affair that is sorely missing what makes a B-Movie work; namely a sense of spectacle and most importantly of all, fun.

• Albert K

  
  SHABLOOIEEE! BLAMMMMM MICHAEL BAYBOOM EXPLOSIONSSSSS! It's well shot but definitely felt restricted. Action was kinda entertaining and the CGI was lacking. The dialogue equivalent with that of many Call of Duty games. Way too long.

• Steve K

  
  Good: It's better than Skyline. Bad: That's not saying much. All the elements are there but it never gels into the film it is trying to be. Having so many thin, stupid characters just makes it worse.

• Cynthia S

  
  3 3/4 stars. I rather enjoyed this. Good afternoon entertainment. Well done. Good acting. Good action. Definitley one of the better alien invasion movies that came out at this time.

• Anthony L

  
  Battle: Los Angeles is 1 part alien invasion film and 2 parts army film. A fellow reviewer has said it's 'Independence Day meets Black Hawk Down' and I think that's pretty spot on. However, I enjoyed this much more than both of those films. I felt there was an… More
  Battle: Los Angeles is 1 part alien invasion film and 2 parts army film. A fellow reviewer has said it's 'Independence Day meets Black Hawk Down' and I think that's pretty spot on. However, I enjoyed this much more than both of those films. I felt there was an element of realism that balances out the fantasy aspect of the story and isn't that what we all want from these kinds of films? Independence Day was a cartoon in comparison and Black Hawk Down was mainly a confusing headache. I was going to say Battle: Los Angeles is a guilty pleasure but actually, I don't mind admitting that I liked it. What do I know though, I thought Skyline was good but what I will still say in my defence is that they are both original films within the genres, something some of the other more popular films can't boast.

• E.J. B

  
  Here it is kids! The first video game movie. No, not video game based movie; the first video game movie. Two hours of you running around in a deserted battlefield that was once Los Angeles fighting aliens Call of Duty style. The aliens have no personality. They're just moving… More
  Here it is kids! The first video game movie. No, not video game based movie; the first video game movie. Two hours of you running around in a deserted battlefield that was once Los Angeles fighting aliens Call of Duty style. The aliens have no personality. They're just moving targets who shoot at you so you can shoot them. Only problem is you don't get to play a movie. Someone in Hollywood saw War of the Worlds and then Black Hawk Down. Soon enough, a light went off in that person's head, who would then scream, "wouldn't it be awesome if a movie was made just like Black Hawk Down, but instead of Somalis as bad guys, we put in aliens?!" Well, here is that movie. Battle LA is every single war movie cliche thrown into one. It's central character is the disgraced war sergeant who will get a chance to redeem himself. Everyone else is cannon fodder, pawns to get blown up so the movie can show you the brutality of war. Two hours of soldiers shooting at aliens you barely see, edited together in a chaotic fashion to give you that "you are there" feel, but also so you can't tell what the hell is going on. Yaawwn. The script must have been the easiest thing to write, since every scene contains many shouts of "Move!" "Watch out!" "Keep shooting!" and the like. Also, the film's lame attempt to sympathize with the enemy comes out in one soldier's laughable statement, "they're just like us. Forced to follow orders." This two hour gunfight is supposed to be a metaphor for modern war, except how do you take that seriously when the war is against fantastical creatures like aliens. Symbolism doesn't work here, because the movie tries too hard to be super-realistic. If you want to see a film about war, watch the infinitely better Hurt Locker. Hell, go straight to the source, watch Black Hawk Down. But not Battle Los Angeles. This movie is shit.

• Max C

  
  This film rides on comparisons to Independence Day, but in the end these comparisons merely point out the film's weaknesses. Independence Day promoted an everyman patriotism where trailer trash, scientist, president, and soldier were all heroes in equal measure. Battle: Los… More
  This film rides on comparisons to Independence Day, but in the end these comparisons merely point out the film's weaknesses. Independence Day promoted an everyman patriotism where trailer trash, scientist, president, and soldier were all heroes in equal measure. Battle: Los Angeles makes sure that there's a hierarchy in which soldiers are at the top. Updated for the times, however, Battle: Los Angeles makes statements about violence in the media which were also looked at in Hurt Locker. Soldiers form around a TV to watch a news broadcast on the violence that they will soon face. By the time they're fighting, we get Call of Duty like point of view shots, which is a stab at the audience for being so fascinated by violence in video games and needing it as a mediator. The difference is that Hurt Locker abandoned its focus on reality for the sake of artfulness half way through, whereas Battle: Los Angeles knowingly embraces the unreality of its time and form.

• Candy R

  
  It's like war of the worlds. The Earth is under attack by alien forces. An army platoon fight back in the last city standing - Los Angeles. Good special affects. Defo a guy's movie. Lots of action and explosions.

• Michael E

  
  Its an action film that keeps you entertained. It's certainly not the best film I've seen all year, but it is a very good and entertaining film with decent acting, great action, great CG, good characters, and some great drama and plot. Aaron Eckhart does a great job as the… More
  Its an action film that keeps you entertained. It's certainly not the best film I've seen all year, but it is a very good and entertaining film with decent acting, great action, great CG, good characters, and some great drama and plot. Aaron Eckhart does a great job as the main character and the supporting cast does a great job as well, and though I like the movie Skyline unlike everyone else, this film does succeed in telling at least what the aliens purpose is instead of Skyline which doesn't give that much of an explanation aside from they want what a zombie wants in a movie, BRAINS!!! With this movie it is a little more creative.

• Drake T

  
  Black Hawk Down + War of the Worlds = This movie. A mildly entertaining Action/Thriller movie for the Call of Duty / HALO generation, but for the rest of us? A dreary, uninspired war film that although has a SciFi premise, borrows none of the genre's elements into play. The… More
  Black Hawk Down + War of the Worlds = This movie. A mildly entertaining Action/Thriller movie for the Call of Duty / HALO generation, but for the rest of us? A dreary, uninspired war film that although has a SciFi premise, borrows none of the genre's elements into play. The biggest problem is the fact that the films very character driven, but all the characters are either walking cliches or dumb-as-door-nail marines. Largely uninteresting people at the core. I liked the concept though, the whole "small-platoon-average-joe-POV" execution as opposed to the "One-man-army-larger-than-life" approach that a lot of Alien Invasion media relish in. By the time we reach the movies climax/end, we're completely exhausted by the action, drama, thrill and like I said, already boring characters. The movie sings one tone, whether you like that particular tone will determine how much you enjoy it.

• Dean M

  
  It's <i>Independence Day</i> meets <i>Black Hawk Down</i>, except really cooler. The idea of an alien invasion is taken very seriously here, as a squad of marines - led by ageing Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) - enter an active alien war zone to pick up… More
  It's <i>Independence Day</i> meets <i>Black Hawk Down</i>, except really cooler. The idea of an alien invasion is taken very seriously here, as a squad of marines - led by ageing Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) - enter an active alien war zone to pick up survivors from an abandoned police station. Time is ticking, as the city is set to be nuked. For extended sections, it works as a war-torn action film. Combat sequences have that real "smell of cordite" and there's a believability to Eckhart's performance that's undeniable (he throws a mean grenade). When the film stops and breathes, though, trouble surfaces. Unlike the recent <i>Skyline</i>, <i>Battle: Los Angeles</i> gives the characters a solid background story and there's also a motive behind the invasion. The film recalls the newsreel look of <i>Black Hawk Down</i>, and aside from some inevitable flag waving and cheesy heroic speeches, <i>Battle: Los Angeles</i> is a welcome addition to a genre that has been noticeably scarce of late.

• Bruce B

  
  A great combat film, take away the UFO and aliens and you have pretty much what it is like in Iraq and Afghanistan, Plenty of action and good special effects. 4 1/2 stars

• Melvin W

  
  Sgt. Major: This is a textbook military invasion. We are the last offensive force on the west coast. We cannot lose Los Angeles.  Battle: Los Angeles is a big explosion filled action movie with absolutely nothing else to speak of. That's alright because that's what I… More
  Sgt. Major: This is a textbook military invasion. We are the last offensive force on the west coast. We cannot lose Los Angeles.  Battle: Los Angeles is a big explosion filled action movie with absolutely nothing else to speak of. That's alright because that's what I expected. I mean the movie is called Battle: Los Angeles; not Dialogue: Los Angeles. The writer and the director wanted this to be nothing more then an action movie. So in that regards, it's still only decent. It's way too long for what it's showing us, which is pretty much the same thing the whole movie. I don't know why they would go for big names like Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez, either. It's just distracting because they aren't being used as actors, but as guns. Rodriguez is really underused and should have had much more screen time.  It's a movie that should have people knowing whether they are going to like it or not going in. If you like action filled movies, you're probably going to like this at least a little. If you don't, you're going to hate it. It does remind me a lot of playing campaigns on Halo, but it's more of a Call of Duty meets Halo movie. Call of Duty warfare with a enemy that resembles the Halo aliens. It's not great by any means, but it is a hell of a lot better then Skyline.

• Dean !

  
  I had high hopes for a more serious Independence day type alien invasion film. This is more like an urban war film that had more in common with a call of duty type video game. The effects are ok, not wowed by the alien design to be honest. It has a good cast who do their best to fight… More
  I had high hopes for a more serious Independence day type alien invasion film. This is more like an urban war film that had more in common with a call of duty type video game. The effects are ok, not wowed by the alien design to be honest. It has a good cast who do their best to fight aliens that aren't there, and working with green screens etc. An ok war film, a disappointing alien film.

• Brad W

  
  In Battle LA the most action will the headache in your head. The plot is worthless, because there is none, they wont eventell us why aliens are attacking. The actors were just okay, you could never tell with all this crap going on. If you came for moments with explosions, shooting,… More
  In Battle LA the most action will the headache in your head. The plot is worthless, because there is none, they wont eventell us why aliens are attacking. The actors were just okay, you could never tell with all this crap going on. If you came for moments with explosions, shooting, and aliens, you came to the right movie. The music and explosions were so loud I got a headache and felt woozy after. And the camera didnt help, its not Cloverfields camera, its much much worse. Overall if you want explosions, this is your movie, if you want a good movie, this aint it.

• Kevin K

  
  Grade: F (31%) Battle: Los Angeles is full of war clichés as you may expect. Whether it's the action scenes or the dialogue between soldiers, this is like every other war film created. But if you look past it, you might find a bad film about a world war between humans and… More
  Grade: F (31%) Battle: Los Angeles is full of war clichés as you may expect. Whether it's the action scenes or the dialogue between soldiers, this is like every other war film created. But if you look past it, you might find a bad film about a world war between humans and aliens. Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is preparing to retire as a marine for being a little too old for the job and has a rough past as a marine. But when meteors crash land in the ocean and aliens appear, he is forced to go into the war zone to rescue civilians in a destroyed police station. If you haven't figured it out yet, the story is pretty bad since the film is all about the action. The battle sequences aren't nearly as intense as other war films (Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down, Apocalypse Now to name a few). The "close calls" that the soldiers come across as nail biting or shocking. But the action isn't boring enough to make you yawn, thankfully. The movie is long for this type of film. It runs just below the two hour mark but feels like a two and a half hour movie. For some you might think that's okay but for a person who has seen better war films will think that the movie is long winded. The movie also ends on a bad note as if the climax of the film didn't mean anything. Okay we did this so we won the war, now we have to fight for Los Angeles. . . . it doesn't make sense on paper so why even put it in? The movie has poor writing with many clichés as I have said before. I didn't really care for the characters and, more importantly, didn't care about the plot. They fight aliens, they kill aliens. Wow. If you have never seen a war film before, watch this film and you'll love it. But if you want to watch a fantastic war film, Saving Private Ryan is the one I seriously recommend because this movie is basically garbage.

• Lewis C

  
  Earth is under invasion. Meteors landing off the coasts of various places around the earth are actually alien soldiers, intent on exterminating humanity. Our group of soldiers is part of the last offensive force left standing on the American west coast. What starts as an attempt to… More
  Earth is under invasion. Meteors landing off the coasts of various places around the earth are actually alien soldiers, intent on exterminating humanity. Our group of soldiers is part of the last offensive force left standing on the American west coast. What starts as an attempt to rescue civilians from an area before it's bombard by the Air Force, may end up being our last, best hope to destroy our extraterrestrial attackers. If you want some action, Battle: Los Angeles has it in spades. This sci-fi invasion flick is pretty much one long war scene from beginning to end (hence the literal title). The attacking aliens are pretty bland. They don't really inspire fear or awe, they're just something for our soldiers to shoot and be shot by in return. There are attempts at characterization and making you care for some of the soldiers and civilians, but this movie is 5% heart and 95% boom. It's not much more than the sum of its bullets and explosions, but that's perfectly okay if that's what you're looking for. I eventually began losing interest and zoned out a bit as it all became a blur of almost identically-staged firefights, but by the conclusion, I was back on board again. Hence, the slightly positive rating.

• Chris W

  
  I like seeing Marines do what Marines do, but I've seen so much of it that it's hard to get excited unless it's shown in a way that's just really well done or innovative, or new. This film had a lot of promise, but really fell short of the mark. Whoever the first… More
  I like seeing Marines do what Marines do, but I've seen so much of it that it's hard to get excited unless it's shown in a way that's just really well done or innovative, or new. This film had a lot of promise, but really fell short of the mark. Whoever the first person was that described this as a cross between Black Hawk Down and Independence Day was only partially correct. Conceptually yes, it is kinda like that. However, it's a far inferior film compared to both (yes, even though Independence Day is a goofy mess). The plot is that of an alien invasion taking placew all over the major cities of the world, with the film focusing almost completely on Los Angeles. Reasons are given for the invasion, but they're not all that convincing. Sometimes when you have a movie where the motivations aren't very clear, it can be more intense or scary if done properly. Here, it just comes off as sketchy and random, just an excuse for gunfire and explosions. I do like gunfire and explosions, but I've seen so much of it, that I get easily bored by it unless it's just done in some sort of 'way'. Some of the action scenes are actually kinda okay here, and some of the effects are okay, but none of it really blew me away here. What bugs me though is the script that's filled with nothing but cliches, and the way this thing is shot and edited: on a hand-held camera and put together choppily. There's no reason for this. The Blair Witch Prjoect and Cloverfield at least gave explanation for it that I could buy. This film is a little long, indulgant, loud, stupid, and annoying, but I'll give it a slight compliment by saying that it's at least not on the level of most Michael Bay films. I like the cast, so it's a shame they don't have better materia lto work with. As far as their performances go, it's all pretty typical stuff, with most of the cast reduced to spouting/doing cliched things, and yelling a lot. Eckhart at least looks like he's trying, anf I do like michelle Rodriguez, even though her appearance here is one she's made far too many times before already. It was nice seeing Jim Parrack appear in something other than True Blood, though. That was welcome. Overall, this movie didn't royally piss me off, and they sort of tried to make a bit of an effort, but it's nothing new at all, and just handled very clumsily. Some of the action is good, but there's not enough development for me to really care all that much, and what is there is just not that good anyway.

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