Battle: Los Angeles, the action blockbuster from director Jonathon Liebesman, feels just like a video game. A first-person shooter to be precise. And not just that; watching Battle: Los Angeles is like watching your best friend play a first person shooter. It gets boring, frustrating and eventually you lose interest so much so that you don't even want a turn anymore, you just want to go outside and get some fresh air.
The film opens with Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz, recently retired and full of regret for losing his team of soldiers in a mission years before. 24 hours after he signs for his pension, a cluster of meteors hit off the coast of Los Angeles and the infantry are mobilized to evacuate the coastline. It's then that huge metallic monsters appear just over the horizon, signalling a vicious, end-of-times attack on Planet Earth. Nantz is whipped out of retirement and put straight into action with his walking band of cliches.
I don't use that term lightly here. Battle: Los Angeles' cast of characters are absolutely nothing more than a stereotypical, seen-it-a-thousand-times type group. A foreign soldier fighting to get back home, check. The tough, charismatic leader fighting to get back home to his pregnant wife, check. The remorseful Sergeant, fighting to prove his worth and save this new band of brothers, check. The female soldier, fighting to show the guys that girls can kick ass, too. They're all there. In the film's ridiculously overlong running time, there's not a single three-dimensional character in view.
But the film is 2011's first blockbuster, right? The majority of the general audience is going to this to see humanity face off against an other worldly threat, which entails fantastical situations, great special-effects and grand set pieces. If that's what you're going for, save your money. Director Jonathan Liebesman stuffs the flick full of speaker-blowing action, but ultimately it's a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. If you've got an ensemble cast (that all look too similar to tell apart) in a close combat scene filmed in shaky-cam, how is that exciting? We can't see what's going on. All you can make out is fire, rubble or bullets whizzing across the battlefield. And this is 99% of the running time? For shame.
Perhaps the biggest criminal here is screenwriter, Christopher Bertolini. The script seems so lazily put together, anyone could have written it over a weekend fueled by Doritos, Beer and a copy of Independence Day. The scenarios are stale and the dialogue is laughable. Seriously, I will make a cash bet right now to anyone who can stay straight faced during Aaron Eckhart's speech about losing his team.
Overall, it's not the worst of the Alien-Invasion sub-genre, but it's just poor cinema. I can't recommend it to those just looking for a brainless blockbuster, because it just isn't that entertaining, either. Perhaps if you're a hardcore gamer, maybe you'll enjoy it's countless battles and shoot 'em up situations? If you don't fall into that category though, save your cash for 2011's next blockbuster.
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Michelle Rodriguez, Aaron Eckhart
Running Time: 116 minutes
Certificate: 12A IRE/ 12A UK
Released: Mar 11 2011 (IRE)
The film opens with Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz, recently retired and full of regret for losing his team of soldiers in a mission years before. 24 hours after he signs for his pension, a cluster of meteors hit off the coast of Los Angeles and the infantry are mobilized to evacuate the coastline. It's then that huge metallic monsters appear just over the horizon, signalling a vicious, end-of-times attack on Planet Earth. Nantz is whipped out of retirement and put straight into action with his walking band of cliches.
I don't use that term lightly here. Battle: Los Angeles' cast of characters are absolutely nothing more than a stereotypical, seen-it-a-thousand-times type group. A foreign soldier fighting to get back home, check. The tough, charismatic leader fighting to get back home to his pregnant wife, check. The remorseful Sergeant, fighting to prove his worth and save this new band of brothers, check. The female soldier, fighting to show the guys that girls can kick ass, too. They're all there. In the film's ridiculously overlong running time, there's not a single three-dimensional character in view.
But the film is 2011's first blockbuster, right? The majority of the general audience is going to this to see humanity face off against an other worldly threat, which entails fantastical situations, great special-effects and grand set pieces. If that's what you're going for, save your money. Director Jonathan Liebesman stuffs the flick full of speaker-blowing action, but ultimately it's a case of too many cooks in the kitchen. If you've got an ensemble cast (that all look too similar to tell apart) in a close combat scene filmed in shaky-cam, how is that exciting? We can't see what's going on. All you can make out is fire, rubble or bullets whizzing across the battlefield. And this is 99% of the running time? For shame.
Perhaps the biggest criminal here is screenwriter, Christopher Bertolini. The script seems so lazily put together, anyone could have written it over a weekend fueled by Doritos, Beer and a copy of Independence Day. The scenarios are stale and the dialogue is laughable. Seriously, I will make a cash bet right now to anyone who can stay straight faced during Aaron Eckhart's speech about losing his team.
Overall, it's not the worst of the Alien-Invasion sub-genre, but it's just poor cinema. I can't recommend it to those just looking for a brainless blockbuster, because it just isn't that entertaining, either. Perhaps if you're a hardcore gamer, maybe you'll enjoy it's countless battles and shoot 'em up situations? If you don't fall into that category though, save your cash for 2011's next blockbuster.
Director: Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Michelle Rodriguez, Aaron Eckhart
Running Time: 116 minutes
Certificate: 12A IRE/ 12A UK
Released: Mar 11 2011 (IRE)
