Battle Los Angeles
Posted by Tyler Kirk on Saturday, March 12, 2011
$100 million, no payoff.
When the end credits of "Battle LA" hit the screen, people clapped.People actually clapped.My response to their illogical reactions was this: "YOUR F*CKING HIGH!!!".That is exactly what I yelled when they clapped to one of the most incoherent and lousy science-fiction films I've seen.I really wanted to like this movie.The trailer made it look action-packed and awesome.Good news: It's action-packed.Bad news: It sucks.It sucks on many different levels.The acting, for example, is bad.Same with the dialog.There's a scene where soldiers get there hands on an alien and want to dissect it, and a survivor of the invasion says "Let me, I'm a veterinarian". I believe that vets work with animals, not aliens.There's another lousy scene where soldiers are walking cautiously down a street, hear something, aim down their sights, and see a dog running down the street.After saying dumb lines like "What's the dog's name?", aliens come into the scene and cause mayhem.Need I say more? In addition to the laughable acting, the movie also lacks one of the most important elements in a movie, plot.There's an objective to the story, but there's very little payoff.It's essentially one explosive action scene after another, making no room for a plot or any character development.
The film is also filmed and shot poorly.Seriously, the cameraman does not know how to shoot a movie.The action scenes are too shaky to be enjoyable and too silly to be suspenseful.They are well made and the special effects are great, but it seems to me that the director simply took the $100 million budget, ate it, crapped it out, and decided to use it to make this movie.That's basically what it is, a steaming pile of crap.It does nothing for Aaron Eckhart's or Michelle Rodriguez's career, making them entirely useless and uninteresting.If you want a better science-fiction movie with good special effects AND good acting with a decent story, do yourself a favor and watch "District 9".It's a hell of a lot better than this.
Grade: C-
When the end credits of "Battle LA" hit the screen, people clapped.People actually clapped.My response to their illogical reactions was this: "YOUR F*CKING HIGH!!!".That is exactly what I yelled when they clapped to one of the most incoherent and lousy science-fiction films I've seen.I really wanted to like this movie.The trailer made it look action-packed and awesome.Good news: It's action-packed.Bad news: It sucks.It sucks on many different levels.The acting, for example, is bad.Same with the dialog.There's a scene where soldiers get there hands on an alien and want to dissect it, and a survivor of the invasion says "Let me, I'm a veterinarian". I believe that vets work with animals, not aliens.There's another lousy scene where soldiers are walking cautiously down a street, hear something, aim down their sights, and see a dog running down the street.After saying dumb lines like "What's the dog's name?", aliens come into the scene and cause mayhem.Need I say more? In addition to the laughable acting, the movie also lacks one of the most important elements in a movie, plot.There's an objective to the story, but there's very little payoff.It's essentially one explosive action scene after another, making no room for a plot or any character development.
The film is also filmed and shot poorly.Seriously, the cameraman does not know how to shoot a movie.The action scenes are too shaky to be enjoyable and too silly to be suspenseful.They are well made and the special effects are great, but it seems to me that the director simply took the $100 million budget, ate it, crapped it out, and decided to use it to make this movie.That's basically what it is, a steaming pile of crap.It does nothing for Aaron Eckhart's or Michelle Rodriguez's career, making them entirely useless and uninteresting.If you want a better science-fiction movie with good special effects AND good acting with a decent story, do yourself a favor and watch "District 9".It's a hell of a lot better than this.
Grade: C-
