Film Review: Loud, Annoying ‘Battle: Los Angeles’ Fails in Spectacular Ways

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HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 1.0/5.0
Rating: 1.0/5.0

CHICAGO – It used to be an insult to say that a loud action movie reminded a critic of a video game. The fact is that most recent video games feature better storytelling and more entertainment value than the horrendous “Battle: Los Angeles,” an annoying movie with such inept direction that it’s not even fun on a visceral level. Even the explosions are boring.

It’s almost as if someone was watching the 2010 Academy Awards and wondered what it would be like to merge Best Picture nominees “District 9” and “The Hurt Locker” (one shudders at the thought of other possible mash-ups like “Avatar” meets “Precious”). “Battle: Los Angeles” is so derivative of superior films that you’ll spend half the running time merely making a list of movies that you’d rather be watching. With horrible camera work, mediocre (at best) special effects, laughable dialogue, and direction that never grounds any of the action with something worth caring about, “Battle: Los Angeles” is one of the worst films of the first quarter of 2011 and arguably its biggest disappointment.

StarRead Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Battle: Los Angeles” in our reviews section.

Aaron Eckhart, seriously taking a step back after career-best turns in “The Dark Knight” and “Rabbit Hole,” plays the only real character in the film — Marine Staff Sergeant Nantz, who recently led a platoon into tragedy overseas and will, of course, find redemption in saving us from an alien invasion. After a brief set-up in which several of the jarheads are given the most annoying, paper-thin personality traits (one has a brother who died in Nantz’s platoon, one is an alleged virgin, one is getting married soon), the action of the piece kicks in with meteors falling around the world

The poor Earthlings realize that they weren’t meteors when some horrendously-designed aliens march out of the ocean and begin an assault on the city of angels. Nantz and his team must travel to a police station, extract some civilians, and get back to an extraction point. Along the way, they pick up a Tech Sergeant (Michelle Rodriguez) and a few non-soldiers (Bridget Moynihan, Michael Pena). It’s all merely an excuse for shaky camera work that disguises the fact that almost nothing worthwhile or interesting is going on.

StarContinue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Battle: Los Angeles” review.

“Battle: Los Angeles” stars Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Bridget Moynihan, and Michael Pena. It was written by Christopher Bertolini and directed by Jonathan Liebesman. It is rated PG-13 and opened on March 11th, 2011.

Battle: Los Angeles
Battle: Los Angeles
Photo credit: Sony Pictures

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