Being brought into the perspective of a Marine platoon which single-handedly has to take on an unknown extraterrestrial force is quite an amazing and stunning adventure. These Marines, being the last hope for Los Angeles, must venture into the heart of the wrecked and destroyed LA area to attack the aliens from the inside and take out their main control center. Battle: Los Angeles is a sci-fi war story that will keep you locked in and on the edge of your seat til the end and, just when you think it's over, it keeps on coming.
Aaron Eckhart, starring as Staff Sergeant Nantz (main character), makes his role dramatic, compelling and remarkable. He makes you want to cheer him on until the end and feel his pain or happiness with each step on the road of destroying these water-crazy, robotic-looking, monstrous fiends (the aliens) that have landed on Earth. Eckhart alone drives this movie through the fanatical fire fights. Air Force Tech Sergeant Elena Santos (Michelle Rodriguez) not only shows her potential but shows she can kick butt. Elena is as hard as a rock and Michelle plays her role flawlessly; the character and the actress are both vital parts of this depiction. The last main character, a Second Lieutenant who leads the platoon for most of the movie, is William Martinez (played by Ramon Rodriguez). For a young growing star, Rodriguez does a great job and helps show how hard it is to lead a platoon of guys against an unknown force. The Battle: LA cast is remarkable and hopefully will get more credit for this performance.
Battle: LA has amazing directing, visual effects and aliens. This movie arguably has the best one-on-one aliens vs. humans firefights of all time. The director, Jonathan Liebesman, does an excellent job at getting the different camera angles on every scene and being able to mix the camcorder directing with the standard movie cam. This mix, plus the amazing CGI and visual effects showing a destroyed LA and the aliens and their ships, and the acting really brought this great feel to the movie.
Imagine Cloverfield, District 9 and Black Hawk Down mixed together and you've got Battle: LA. As the Marine platoon engages the destroyed Los Angeles to attack the aliens, a whole story unfolds with friendship, ambushes, an alien dissection, and crazy battles between the "ETs" and the humans. Even though this movie really packed a punch, it has the same redundant cliché war moments. When Nantz is going by himself to attack the aliens the people in his platoon unnecessarily come with him; this happened at least three times during the movie. When they bring in civilians, it only brings in that tired old love and sympathy plot. Nantz falls for a veterinarian named Michelle (Bridget Moynahan) which they didn't need. If they could cut out the romantic subplot, Battle: LA would have nailed it completely. Even so, this action-packed sci-fi war movie really kicked butt.
by Chase C., Age 13
