Movie Review: Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

© 2011 - Sony Pictures

Original title: Battle Los Angeles
Year 2011
Director: Jonathan Liebesmann
Screenplay: Christopher Bertolini
With: Aaron Eckhardt, Ramon Rodriguez, Will Rothhaar, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Michael Peña
Duration: 116 min.
Grade: 6/10

© 2011 - Sony Pictures

Battle Los Angeles (2011) is an American war movie, so you don't have to be a nuclear scientist to figure out which nationality the good guys are. Of course, the bad guys are not Nazis, Russians or Canadians, but they come from outer space. The movie is like a serious version of Mars Attacks! (2005) in which a dwindling group of Marines take on aliens on the streets of Los Angeles.

It is eventually discovered that the aliens are coming for the water… Aha, like the American multinationals. But beware, these are bad because they are aliens. If only they took a little, they would solve the issue of global warming. Of course, take the one that is not drinkable, which is almost all of it. But hey, what do they want the water for? To use it as fuel for their ships.

© 2011 - Sony Pictures

The protagonist is Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhardt), who has just delivered his retirement papers, but you know that will not happen. Oh, the poor guy is already tired (figuratively and literally) and does not want to know anything else, but you how things happen in Hollywood and he ends up in command of a merry group of Marines tasked with rescuing civilians trapped in a police station, with little time to lose before a nuclear warhead or two is dropped on the city.

Oh I forgot: there are four civilians. A veterinarian, two kids and Michael Peña. One understands that due to the need for the screenplay, these guys had to be given some mission, but... I don't know, at least in theory it would have been more convenient to send them to attack some alien outpost, or to rescue the collection of Batman comics from the Idk museum, but sacrificing a platoon to save that girl (who is also the one who plays John Wick's wife, and we already know how that ends) doesn't seem viable to me. And if it was to rescue Michael Peña, it is already known that something stupid is going to happen and he will end up dead, as is the case here. Ah, but we have to save the two little boys...

© 2011 - Sony Pictures

Or better not, that later they grow up and become drug addicts, rappers or serial killers. Or even worse, Hive bloggers But hey, beyond the many war clichés, the film entertains and as soon as one is careless, we are at minute 116 and it's time to put the next movie. And here's the interesting thing: unlike other movies, this one doesn't bore us with unnecessary flashbacks that make the movie seem like eternals…, I mean, eternal. There are a couple of flashbacks at the beginning, the bare minimum for us to say, "Oh, poor guy, he's about to get married, he's sure to die." Or else: "This other one is married and his wife has an eight-month-old pregnancy, I don't think he'll make it to the end"... And no, he won't.

Ohh, they let me know from the production that there are not two little boys but three, because Michael Peña also has a little boy. The thing is that there are two or three, in the end Aaron Eckhardt not only manages to get rid of the children and the vet but also discovers how to win the war, or almost. Returning to base, he refuses to even pocket a bologna sandwich, and Michelle Rodriguez takes a computer, but forgets to bring its corresponding charger. It makes you think.