March 26: Battle: Los Angeles

"A Marine Staff Sergeant who has just had his retirement approved goes back into the line of duty in order to assist a 2nd Lieutenant and his platoon as they fight to reclaim the city of Los Angeles from alien invaders." 

  Battle: Los Angeles is a generic, over-fried doughnut with a cliche cream filling. It's so plain and unoriginal that you immediately forget about it the moment it's over. The plot and script are two of the biggest weaknesses of the film and each scene of dialogue between rather lackluster moments of action are clearly filler. With a story similar to Independence Day and District 9, one would think it would be much more compelling than it really is. None of the characters are developed enough to care about and when someone dies, you don't feel emotional, you feel confused as to who it is that actually died. 

May you walk at the side of God, James. No, John? Jake? Oh, yeah...Kevin. 

   Aaron Eckhart is the only actor worth mentioning in the film and, although his presence adds the smallest bit of credibility to Battle: LA, it's not enough to save it. He's believable as a staff sergeant in the army, but an officer is only as good as the men he leads. In this case, each member of his unit is an empty shell of a character used specifically as a plot device to throw more bodies at the enemy. Speaking of which, the enemies are aliens that have come to earth to drain the world of water, which they use as fuel. They kind of look like tall, robotic Venus fly traps with arms that swing around like a monkey. Even then, they look very uninspired. 

Lego comes up with better designs. 

   Overall, Battle: LA is just too bland and unoriginal to be worth a recommendation. The film is weak all around and not even the special effects or action can save the terrible script. However, the movie would make for an interesting video game and, after watching it, I have quite the urge to play some Call of Duty. Unlike most similar films, I think of how good it could have been if certain things were tweaked. With Battle: LA, however, I can't really think of anything to change to make the film amazing. Too many components are less than great and Battle: LA should just be a movie you skip. 

The Good:

Aaron Eckhart and a surprisngly good score by Brian Tyler

The Bad:

action sequences filmed by a cameraman with a caffeine addiction, as every shakes and jumps around constantly

The Ugly:

a plot with no heart or substance and characters so boring you don't care what happens to them

Overall: 4.7/10

Best Quote:

... I need to watch better movies

Trailer:

Go play video games instead... woo gratuitous violence!

Speaking of which, check out one of my friend's blogs about video games:

http://linksalefty.blogspot.com/