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

                “Battle: Los Angeles” (also titled “Battle: LA” or internationally “World Invasion:  Battle Los Angeles”) is a war movie with aliens in it, according to director Jonathan Liebesman.  He was inspired by the styles of “Black Hawk Down” and “Saving Private Ryan”.  The quasi-documentary style was an attempt to replicate video footage of Marines in Fallujah, Iraq.  The seed of the script came from a legendary incident called the “Battle of Los Angeles” which occurred in 1942 after Pearl Harbor.  Panic over the war situation led to a barrage of anti-aircraft fire to stop a supposed Japanese attack.  Apparently, this was an extreme overreaction to a weather balloon.  (The same incident inspired the movie “1941”.) The movies budget was $100 million and it grossed over $200 million worldwide.  It was filmed in Louisiana due to financial incentives.  The production had extensive cooperation from the Pentagon including using Marines as extras and the use of Osprey aircraft and helicopters.  The actors were put through a three-week boot camp to learn platoon tactics and how Marines behave.  Technical advisers were provided for realism.

                The movie is set in the present.  Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is about to retire, unless something unforeseen prevents it.  That unforeseen event is the arrival of aliens via meteors.  They make an amphibious invasion onto the beaches of L.A.  Nantz is assigned to a new platoon whose mission is to help evacuate civilians from the city before it is bombed to stop the aliens.  The clock is ticking.  They are ambushed at the start by alien infantry.  The alien warriors are biological creatures with exoskeletons that have weapons and communications implanted.  They are 8 feet tall and hard to kill, but not invulnerable.  Although robotic, they are equivalent of Soviet infantry from WWII.  The aliens get air support from drones that quickly establish air superiority.  Nantz’s platoon, led by a green Lt., takes refuge in a police station for the last stand portion of the movie.  They find a few civilians to protect.  From the police station, the movie kicks into the escape through enemy lines sequence.  This results in a nifty fire-fight on an overpass.  Some will eventually reach safety  In the final act, Nantz and his suicide squad must save mankind by taking out the alien command center. 

                “BLA” is surprisingly good for a combat porn movie.  It has a high percentage of action, but it is not graphic because Liebesman wanted a PG-13 rating.  There are lots of explosions and copious expenditure of ammunition.  The aliens are a worthy foe and although superior, they are not “War of the Worlds” superior.  Although the movie emphasizes that they have only one weak spot, they are actually pretty easy to kill. The fire-fights are fairly equal and the tactics of both sides make sense.  The Marines use covering fire and fire and maneuver.  They have current weapons, mostly the M4A1 and M16A4.  Curiously, the American forces are missing artillery support, bombers, and helicopter gunships.   And, of course, no nukes because that would be too easy.  The aliens are armed with machine guns and grenade launchers.  Their drones fire phosphorous explosives.

                The plot is basically that of a WWII movie.  There is nothing original, but it is competently done.  There are some clichés.  Nantz is in need of redemption.  The green Lt. earns respect through self-sacrifice.  The enemy “brain” must be destroyed.  The characters are stereotypes with the addition of the now standard strong female warrior portrayed by Michelle Rodriquez (who else?).  There is only cursory character development because that is not what the audience came for, plus you have seen all the personalities before.  Thankfully, they are not forced to mouth trite dialogue and the acting is fine.  Eckhart makes a good anchor and he put his heart into the role.  (He broke an arm in a fall and continued without a cast.) The boot camp must have worked because the actors have the Marine ethos down.  They move like Marines.  Speaking of movement, the cinematography makes heavy use of hand-held cameras and you get the impression you are with them as they maneuver.  The CGI is not cheesy and the aliens are impressive, if derivative of films like “District 9”.  Kudos to the drone designer.  Those are original and their ramshackle look has led to the fan theory that the aliens are attacking Earth not only for its tropeish water resources, but possibly because warfare has decimated their home planet.

                BLA is an underrated sci-fi war movie.  It is entertaining, especially if you look at it as intended – a war movie with aliens in it.  The action is consistent and the plot, if predictable, moves briskly.  It does have an “America, fuck yeah!” vibe to it, but sometimes we just need to revel in patriotism.  Especially when it comes to protecting our country from despicable aliens who have come to take our H2O.

GRADE  =  B

ALIENS (1) vs. BATTLE: LOS ANGELES (16)

VS.

PLOT - "Aliens" is a sequel to "Alien", so you would expect the usual retread. But where "Alien" is a horror movie, "Aliens" is an action thriller. Ripley accompanies a squad of Marines back to the planet where the Nostromo encountered the alien. Noone knows what has happened to the mining colony there. Ripley's suspicions are confirmed in the worst way. The plot is nearly perfect. The characters are well developed. It retains some of the horror elements of the original, but this one is mainly a battle for survival against a horrific enemy. The action sequences are outstanding and the periods of calm are ominous. GRADE = A+

"Battle: Los Angeles" is basically a WWII combat movie where the aliens replace the Japanese. The plot uses two common war movie tropes. The first half is a lost patrol scenario as a unit of Marines (featuring a hardened veteran in need of redemption and his young charges in need of bloodying) who are tasked with rescuing civilians behind enemy lines and before a saturation bombing. That mission accomplished, the survivors move into a commando mission scenario which clicheishly involves destroying the enemy "brain". Nothing you haven't seen before, but done with verve and a to hell with the critics vibe. There is plenty of action and even some character development. It's all competently done which helps explain how the movie made over $200 million. GRADE = C+

STRATEGY AND TACTICS - As a war movie, "Aliens" is a small unit combat movie. The strategy is to locate the missing colonists. Possibly because of evil corporate interests, the Marines have no real plan for a worst case scenario. Therefore, they are taken completely by surprise. The tactic used was typically Marine (apparently, the Marines do not change in the future). They make a frontal entry into the danger zone with no reconnoiter. It takes a civilian, Ripley, to change the tactic in order to get some of the squad out of an ambush. The rest of the film is basically a last stand scenario. GRADE = B

In BLA, our strategy is to hold the line and the aliens are attempting to conquer and exploit our resources. Standard stuff. Since the movie is a small unit movie, we get small scale tactics. The squad movement seems realistic. There is some covering fire as they move. They establish perimeters. Targeting the enemy's command and control is a common military tactic. The aliens appear to use swarming tactics aided by control of the air. Their small unit movement is similar to the Marines. No one does anything particularly howling. GRADE = B


WEAPONRY - All of the main weapons are modeled after current firearms that are cosmetically enhanced. The M41A Pulse Rifle is built around a Thompson machine gun. It has a capacity of 99 rounds of armor piercing. It includes a pump action grenade launcher. Vasquez and Drake are armed with M56 Smart Guns which are heavy machine guns based on the German MG42 of WWII fame. Famously, Ripley combines a pulse rifle with a M240 flame thrower to rescue Newt. The weapons combine firepower, explosions, and fire = the trifecta. As far as the aliens, they don’t need all that firepower. They have acid blood and killer teeth. It's a fair fight. GRADE = A

The movie is set in contemporary time and had a low budget so the Marines are armed with current weapons. Most of them carry the standard M4A1 carbine. You also see a lot of M16A4s and even a SAW or two. A Copperhead 155mm laser-guided artillery round is used to take out the alien headquarters. This is the only artillery the movie references. There is a brief appearance of a tank, but no helicopter gunships and no bombers. The alien infantry have six-barreled machine guns welded to their right arms. It includes a grenade launcher. They use a walking rocket volleyer which is intimidating, but wildly inaccurate. Their big advantage is their drone fighters (Wedge Ships) which quickly get air superiority. They can reach Mach 7 and are highly maneuverable. They are armed with direct energy cannons. Overall, the fight is more even than in most sci-fi war movies where the humans are normally very overmatched. GRADE = C

SPECIAL EFFECTS - "Aliens" justifiably won the Oscar for Visual Effects. Surprisingly, the movie does not rely on CGI. The aliens are gymnasts, dancers, and stuntmen in suits. Mannequins were also used. The mother alien was life-sized and stood 14 feet tall. It required two puppeteers inside and sixteen others to manipulate it. Unlike many horror movies, the audience gets clear views of the monsters and they are extremely scary. GRADE = A+

The visual effects in BLA were predominantly CGI, but it is not a cheesy movie. The aliens are not given a lot of screen time, but appear to be standard alien bipeds. They are tall and skinny, but not particularly scary. The drones show some creativity. They appear to be designed to look different than the Star Wars type fighters. Considering the low budget, the special effects are surprisingly good. GRADE = C
ANALYSIS: BLA is not a terrible movie, but it is not in a league with "Aliens". "Aliens" is one of the greatest sci-fi movies. They share some similarities in that they are both small unit movies. However, where in "Aliens" the unit is just trying to survive, the soldiers in BLA are more proactive. BLA is more of a traditional war movie and is entertaining in that respect, but "Aliens" takes the genre to the future with an alien that is much more visceral. BLA is a fun watch, but it is not memorable.

ALIENS = 37
BATTLE = 30

NOW SHOWING: "Battle: Los Angeles"

If you love war movies, alien invasion movies, and Westerns, “Battle: Los Angeles” is for you. It combines these genres in an entertaining, if unoriginal way. You will recognize parts of “Black Hawk Down”, “Star Wars”, any suicide mission movie, any small unit movie, and numerous hold the fort against the Indians movies. Its plot is old school, but it is given a modern feel with new school hand held camera looks, point of view filming and quick cuts. The violence is also new school in its frenetic and chaotic nature. There are plenty of explosions to sate the American audience. “Battle: Los Angeles” is replete with clichés, but they are comforting for many war movie lovers. These clichés include the heterogeneous unit, the redemption of the leader who lost men on his last mission, the BFF who sacrifices himself, to name a few. Also, if you don’t like surprises, you’ll be able to predict most of the plot turns.

The movie begins with an alien invasion of Earth. Surprisingly, the movie is set in August of 2011. Sgt. Nantz (Alan Eckhart) is due to retire, but of course postpones it to serve his country in this crisis. He is assigned to a new unit headed by the soon-to-be new father Lt. Martinez. (Cliché alert) We are introduced to the members of the squad through brief snippets. One is about to get married, one is a cherry who has not lost his, one is being flagged by the psychiatrist, one is a Nigerian medic, etc. Nantz brings baggage to his new platoon because he left some men behind on his last mission. Will he get redemption?

Their mission is to go behind enemy lines to rescue an unknown number of civilians at a police station. As if it’s not a suicide mission to begin with, they have only three hours before the Air Force toasts the area. Why you would waste valuable warriors for this is not questioned. They naturally run into an ambush as we get our first look at the aliens. They look like the aliens in “District Nine”, only much harder to kill. Strangely, sometimes they move with stealthy speed over roof tops and other times they lumber forward down streets. Their weapons are apparently some type of white phosphorous-like projectile that produces thermal burns.

They hook up with some survivors including a female Air Force intelligence officer (Michelle Rodriguez). Women may not be allowed in combat, but this babe can dish it out when given the opportunity. The unit reaches the police station to find only five civilians. The station becomes Fort Apache for a while. A medevac helicopter gives the director the opportunity to have a spectacular explosion and to prove virgins never survive in a movie like this. Luckily, there is a bus nearby that they can ride to safety. Nantz does “some real John Wayne shit” (do Marines still refer to John Wayne tactics?) to destroy a drone. Things are going well with the alien aircraft apparently unable to spot a moving bus in a desolate landscape. Unfortunately, the joy ride ends with busted tires from shrapnel. An intense fire-fight ensues with the LT sacrificing himself to blow up the enemy which conveniently puts Nantz in command.

They next take refuge in a store (in a Western, this would be a watering hole) so we can have some more exposition and bonding and a touching death scene. They also will wait out the bombardment, which does not come. They continue to the Forward Operating Base, but find that the evil Transformers (whoops, wrong movie) have already been there leaving no one even wounded. They plow their way out in a Stryker and Humvee which allows them to run over some aliens. They reach a heli evacuation site and are on their way to safety when Nantz discovers the alien command and control center and decides to go after it alone. Surprise, the rest of the squad goes with him. It’s a foot bound assault on the Death Star. The rest you can see for yourself.

I know I’m being a bit snarky, but I actually enjoyed this movie. You have to take what you can get these days in the arid landscape of war movies. It is an entertaining movie with lots of action and some decent acting. It is very pro-Marines and anti-aliens. If the marines did not give full cooperation in the production, they got a free two hour commercial. It is simplistic in its plot, but competent in its execution. You may get a headache from the intensity of the combat scenes, but that’s what we’re looking for, right?

GRADE  =  B-