Bad Battle

To the best of our knowledge, there is no solid evidence of extra terrestrial life.

There have been rumors, images, and patterns that go unexplained, but still know reliable evidence supporting the popular theory of aliens in our undersized vision of the universe.  Battle: Los Angeles uses these assumptions to its credit. 

The film begins with a group of US Military preparing for a large cluster of meteors plummeting towards Earth.  The plot continues to follow the preparation of this event through the perspective of the US Marines. 

As abnormalities and in-coincidental patterns begin to form, it becomes evident to the fictional public that this may not be what they first assumed.  As the "meteors" begin decreasing speeds upon their arrival to the Earth's surface, the Marines brace themselves for what looks to be something completely different than first expected.

Driven by the efforts of Staff Sergeant, Micheal Nantz, (Aaron Eckhart) and Second Lieutenant William Martinez, (Ramon Rodriguez), the Marines go into the depths of battle on a mission to save a group of trapped civilians before the area is completely destroyed.  Along the way, they team up with another group of endangered allies including Sergeant Elena Santos, (Michelle Rodriguez).  These highly trained soldiers have to race the clock, and fight off an invasion of hostile aliens in order to return to safety. 

This movie gave me some mixed feelings.  From a military perspective, I thought the emotion portrayed by the characters was motivating to say the least.  I think the film did a good job of capturing the hard working aspects of the US Marines through the values of honor, courage, and commitment. 

On the other hand, I feel like this film could have been done much better.  The visual effects were great, but something about how the movie came together was a bit disappointing.  I think the overall plot of the film (especially the ending) was not as engaging and dramatic as a film such as this should be.

It is safe to say that this movie has its ups and its downs.  There were plenty of qualities in the acting and the special effects, but the plot just didn't grip me as much as I had hoped (especially for a movie with such an intense trailer).  I expected a Sci-Fi thriller, and instead got a poorly planned war movie. 

Perhaps that is my fault for being mislead, but I still remain disappointed in the end.  I would recommend you hold on to your 8 bucks and wait for this flick to hit HBO.  Alien movies are tough to master, and I appreciate the effort, but it fell way short.