So I am glad to say with a slight air of smugness that my predictions about how people would react to Battle L.A. was exactly correct. If you couldn't guess from the title of the thread most peoples ability to enjoy this movie has more to do with whether or not they like Marines and war movies then the movies quality itself.
Don't get me wrong this movie is far from perfect but it deffinetly has a lot going for it. Now I'm not a big war movie buff myself, but compared to how Marines are usually portrayed in media such as 28 Days Later and Gears of War Battle was a breath of fresh air. In fact I don't remember a movie making such an effort to humanize soldiers and Marines since Gigers Aliens.
Thats right you just saw someone compare Battle LA to one of Sci-Fys most beloved movies. Right from the begining I knew I was watching something that wanted to be a spiritual successor to the standard for Alien vs. Marine genera. Don't belive me? let me count the ways.
Battle dedicates a good 15 to 20 minuets just setting up the characters for the conflict that is to follow. There is a armored vehicle chase were some of the aliens are run over and the vehicle gets disabled. A rescue air vehicle gets shot out of the sky just in time to shatter everyones hopes. There is one mandatory butch chick who becomes friends with one of the marines. And the marines are working against a time limit till everything get blown to hell.
The best praise I would have to give to this Battle however is that it really is working for its dramatic moments. The chief complaint I hear from critics about most action movies (myself included) is that they never take any time to establish the characters or why we should care about them before they get killed off. I can safely say that Battle L.A. takes time to give characters more then one line before they die. In fact they get several lines.
I have heard people say(MovieBob) that this movie has no substance of moral to it. I'm not sure what movie those people were watching cause it has a couple of moral lessons in it. First lesson? "Sometimes life just isn't fair". The marines staff Sargent played by Aaron Eckhart who does a lovely job looking serious and soulful is literally a day or two away from retirement, and the Lieutenant is fresh out of the officer academy.
Holy dramatic cliche Batman! Yes I'm sure some of you war movie buffs out there could name a score of movie that use these time tested archetypes. But like I said Battle really works to make these characters more three dimensional then a piece of note paper. So how do you think you would feel if your first assignment was leading a group of soldiers to fight alien invaders with superior tech. and unknown tactics?
What the second lesson? "Using your brain and taking action is better then giving up" There is a point during the movie were the marines lose all contact with operations, the whole operations been FUBARed, and they have to make their own decisions. It may be shocking to some of you that soldiers are actually trained to pay attention to their surroundings and gather intel. that could be useful. Well that's exactly what they do. They figure out where the aliens weak point is and attack it. Pretty simple but effective.
Now don't worry I do have some criticism for the movie. While the combat is dramatic the camera likes to shake about too much especially at the beginning when the Marines are ambushed by the invaders. I really had a hard time following what was going on at some points of combat. Of course you could argue that this is to show how confusing a real life or death struggle would be. But frankly there is only so much realism I want in a movie and if it gets in the way of enjoying whats going on then your doing it wrong.
My biggest complaint I was saving for last and it is as follows. I DON'T NEED TO SEE A DOZEN CLOSE UPS OF THE ACTORS FACES TO SHOW THAT THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC! Ok one or two close ups is fine it give the actors some extra face time. But really it loses its effectiveness when you do it over and over again for what feels like the entire third act of the movie.
Well I think I've gone on long enough so I'll conclude with this. Your ability to enjoy Battle will probably depend entirely on your personal like or dislike of Marines. Do you agree?
Don't get me wrong this movie is far from perfect but it deffinetly has a lot going for it. Now I'm not a big war movie buff myself, but compared to how Marines are usually portrayed in media such as 28 Days Later and Gears of War Battle was a breath of fresh air. In fact I don't remember a movie making such an effort to humanize soldiers and Marines since Gigers Aliens.
Thats right you just saw someone compare Battle LA to one of Sci-Fys most beloved movies. Right from the begining I knew I was watching something that wanted to be a spiritual successor to the standard for Alien vs. Marine genera. Don't belive me? let me count the ways.
Battle dedicates a good 15 to 20 minuets just setting up the characters for the conflict that is to follow. There is a armored vehicle chase were some of the aliens are run over and the vehicle gets disabled. A rescue air vehicle gets shot out of the sky just in time to shatter everyones hopes. There is one mandatory butch chick who becomes friends with one of the marines. And the marines are working against a time limit till everything get blown to hell.
The best praise I would have to give to this Battle however is that it really is working for its dramatic moments. The chief complaint I hear from critics about most action movies (myself included) is that they never take any time to establish the characters or why we should care about them before they get killed off. I can safely say that Battle L.A. takes time to give characters more then one line before they die. In fact they get several lines.
I have heard people say(MovieBob) that this movie has no substance of moral to it. I'm not sure what movie those people were watching cause it has a couple of moral lessons in it. First lesson? "Sometimes life just isn't fair". The marines staff Sargent played by Aaron Eckhart who does a lovely job looking serious and soulful is literally a day or two away from retirement, and the Lieutenant is fresh out of the officer academy.
Holy dramatic cliche Batman! Yes I'm sure some of you war movie buffs out there could name a score of movie that use these time tested archetypes. But like I said Battle really works to make these characters more three dimensional then a piece of note paper. So how do you think you would feel if your first assignment was leading a group of soldiers to fight alien invaders with superior tech. and unknown tactics?
What the second lesson? "Using your brain and taking action is better then giving up" There is a point during the movie were the marines lose all contact with operations, the whole operations been FUBARed, and they have to make their own decisions. It may be shocking to some of you that soldiers are actually trained to pay attention to their surroundings and gather intel. that could be useful. Well that's exactly what they do. They figure out where the aliens weak point is and attack it. Pretty simple but effective.
Now don't worry I do have some criticism for the movie. While the combat is dramatic the camera likes to shake about too much especially at the beginning when the Marines are ambushed by the invaders. I really had a hard time following what was going on at some points of combat. Of course you could argue that this is to show how confusing a real life or death struggle would be. But frankly there is only so much realism I want in a movie and if it gets in the way of enjoying whats going on then your doing it wrong.
My biggest complaint I was saving for last and it is as follows. I DON'T NEED TO SEE A DOZEN CLOSE UPS OF THE ACTORS FACES TO SHOW THAT THE SCENE IS DRAMATIC! Ok one or two close ups is fine it give the actors some extra face time. But really it loses its effectiveness when you do it over and over again for what feels like the entire third act of the movie.
Well I think I've gone on long enough so I'll conclude with this. Your ability to enjoy Battle will probably depend entirely on your personal like or dislike of Marines. Do you agree?
