Battle Los Angeles: I Finally Saw It!

Yep, I finally saw Battle Los Angeles last night and felt liked I needed to share my opinion. I know, I can hear all the comments right now."It's about time, Mel. Jeez you're only a million years behind the rest of the planet. What kind of film blogger are you?" All right already, here we go...

I liked this. The dialogue was certainly cheestastic and oh hell yeah some of the situations were totally cliche to the core. I mean seriously, how many times have we seen the background guy pull a rifle at the last second and shoot the enemy/monster only to be fatally wounded? About a billion. And how many times have we seen the hero no one trusts have the troops go into hell with him at the last because he's finally earned their respect? So many times it could be a drinking game. But it worked here for me. Maybe I was feeling a little nostalgic for ID4, my favorite alien invasion movie of all time, but this was a fun ride from start to finish.

The movie opens kind of slow with trying to fit in a brief background of as many characters as possible. I've always wondered why directors are allowed to do this in movies. I mean, I've always been told as a writer that the background story stays out of the book unless it's germane to the plot. It's not important here either. I really didn't need to know that this guy's wife is pregnant and that guy's getting married and blah, blah,blah...Just get to the fucking aliens.

Once the invasion commences the ride begins. I love how they all came crashing down in big ships that looked like meteors. The battle sequences with the extraterrestrial forces were pretty cool. The shaky camera work made me think of Saving Private Ryan. I felt like I was right there fighting with those soldiers. The impact of the rapid fire shots and explosions went right through me. Even the scenes where the troops are readying for battle are pretty cool.

One of my very favorite things about this movie is Michelle Rodriguez. She is a total badass, rockin' the fatigues and rifle. I loved her character. I found her smart, tough and completely believable. And there was no overt sexual tension with the other guys. Thank God. Roles like this are what young girls need to see. Her fellow soldiers here were all kind of cliched, but they managed to balance out those cliches with some unexpected reactions. No one was a complete dick, no one was a complete frightened rabbit.

Then there's Aaron Eckhart. His character was a bit stock, but he pulled it off. He was good at not just saying "Fuck it!" then taking over like some John Wayne asshole. He was very conscious of the chain of command and the importance of having one leader on the field. I found myself a bit frustrated that he didn't just haul off and bitch slap the panicking lieutenant. But that's just me.

And, and...I am so goddamned happy the civilians to be rescued were not too-stupid-to-live party girls and frat rats like those vapid morons in Cloverfield. These people were kids, kind of cliche, but okay, a vet and a young father. They reacted like normal people under attack, but they did not freak out and do something stupid to endanger the lives of everyone else. Bonus.

Yeah, I wish I could have known more about the aliens and the script had a few plot holes that needed tweaking. Plus, I wish they would have had a more concrete ending. I want to know that we win for sure, I need closure. I mean I never get it in real life so why can't I have it in my movies? Overall I had a hellagood time and if you want a great popcorn flick for a weekend this is it.