Posts tagged Steven Jones
Alright: let’s go ahead and talk about the giant elephant in the room. Yes, there are some striking similarities between Battle: LA and Independence Day. I mean, if Halo and Independence Day suffered a freak accident that irreversibly combined them with elements of StarCraft it would look a lot like this movie. But only a handful of nerds like me would really notice. And that handful of nerds really wouldn’t care.
Battle: LA follows a group of Marines fresh out of training as they make a desperate stand against a seemingly impregnable alien invasion force. Of course, these Marines aren’t the only ones out fighting… they just seem to be less likely to explode than the rest of the global defense forces. As the film unfolds, one has to wonder how this single platoon fares markedly better than every other armed human on the planet. That is not to say that they fare well. Merely that they seem to die at a rate of a few per half hour rather than a few per second. Heads up: try not to get attached to too many characters. It’s like caring about the unnamed people in Jurassic Park. Or the guys in red shirts who stand next to Captain Kirk. Or the attractive girl in a horror flick. You get the idea. Many of the characters seem to be here for the sheer purpose of blowing up to remind us that, no matter what victory our men have won, the situation is still just short of hopeless. (I have to ask… is there an action movie law book that demands the explosion of a helicopter full of defenseless people?)
There are several almost overly-masculine moments in which the protagonist, SSgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) must deal with these issues by shouting at them until they go away. The film has an unfortunate tendency to portray its protagonists as Jarhead-types with testosterone and adrenaline hard lined into their brains, but it still pulls off some touching moments. Particularly once the Marines encounter a small group of civilians in need of rescue, the humanity of the men begins to show. Eckhart delivers a solid performance, including an episode of post-engagement psychological trauma that pulls the viewer into the film. And this is where Battle: LA shines.
The intent of this movie was clearly to put us on the front lines of a seemingly endless conflict (do I have to make political references here, or can you do that without me?). The film opens in medius res and practically never looks back. I’m tempted to make Cloverfield comparisons. Aliens invade a major city, tearing it to shreds, and we follow along in a shaky-camera adrenaline fest. Except this time we have guns. Which makes it suck even more that we’re getting our butts kicked. As the soldiers tear through empty houses, pursued by an all-but-invincible enemy, we receive updates via television broadcasts cleverly if not subtly placed along the way. The battle is not going well. In fact, it’s probably a good hour before the first confirmed kill of an alien. It takes four Marines several clips and a grenade to kill it. Hopelessness? Check. Fear? Check. Intensity? Most definitely. All of this is packaged well, with the locality of LA being the strongest contribution to the realism of it all. Maybe it’s not the most original film we’ll ever get, but what it does differently it does well.
For raw intensity and a sense of victory against all odds, I give Battle: LA a 6.5 out of 10.
Written By: Steven Jones
