SCI-FI WAR MOVIE: Battle of Los Angeles (2011)

                It is possible to make a good sci-fi war movie, but it takes a big budget.  If you have a small budget, you are screwed.   That did not stop The Asylum from trying to play off the success of “Battle:  Los Angeles”.  That’s right, BLA got the mockbuster treatment.  A “mockbuster” is a direct-to-DVD movie made to capitalize on a major motion picture.  They usually have similar titles to fool rubes.  Of course, The Asylum would argue that they are simply giving fans more of what they liked in the original.  Well, if you liked BLA, do not watch this movie as a companion.  It was directed, written, and filmed by the auteur Mark Atkins (“6-Headed Shark Attack”) and premiered on SyFy. 

                BoLA starts off with the legend-based premise that UFOs attacked Los Angeles in 1942.  Thank goodness this is not a documentary, because they have returned in this movie.  An alien spacecraft hovers over L.A. and four F-16s attack it.  One of the Falcons is piloted by a female (Theresa June-Tao)).  She shoots down some ICBMs that the aliens have reprogrammed in flight!  Is that possible?  When the air base is wiped out, only a few pilots escape cross country.  They encounter a F4U Corsair pilot named Rodgers (Dylan Vox) who is apparently from 1942 due to the Bermuda Triangle.  They need to get him to headquarters because he is the key to saving Earth.  They encounter a robot made out of a trash can and old car parts.  Later, they are chased by an alien craft until they are saved by a woman with a sword (Nia Peeples – the star of the movie) who leaps on the craft and destroys it!  To save Earth, a motley crew will need to infiltrate the alien mother ship in a totally original plot development.  But seriously, you have seen this before, but never this incompetently done.

                “Battle of Los Angeles” would be one of the worst movies ever made if it was not for the unintentional humor.  There are some truly hilarious moments to go along with all the head shaking ones.  For instance, when their solution to defeating the trash can robot involves pushing a car for about five minutes.  Mockbusters are not supposed to be boring.  But they are supposed to be laughable.  As with others of its ilk, one must wonder if Mr. Atkins expected the movie to be taken seriously.  I hope not.  If so, he is delusional and must worship Ed Wood.  I don’t need to tell you that the acting is abysmal (even Peeples) and the dialogue is atrocious.  Sci-fi babel is thrown in for cred.  The CGI is horrible.  Atkins would have been better off with F-16 models on fishing line.

                If you decide to watch this movie, drink heavily and view it as a comedy. 

GRADE  =  F