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Rashid Irani's review: Battle : Los Angeles
It’s apocalypse again. Here’s another would-be-sci-fi epic about alien invaders intent on destroying our benign planet. Rashid Irani writes more.
Battle: Los Angeles
Direction: Jonathan Liebesman
Cast: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez
Rating:*
It’s apocalypse again. Here’s another would-be-sci-fi epic about alien invaders intent on destroying our benign planet. Welcome to Battle: Los Angeles, where every plot twist is predictable and every character one-dimensional. A tough-talking Marine sergeant (Eckhart, barely competent) is assigned to lead the rescue mission.
Accompanied by a platoon of new recruits, the jingoistic American soldiers do battle with the belligerent extraterrestrials. The chances of anyone surviving the videogame-style carnage are slim.
As a result of the frenzied, hand held camera work, most of the action is rendered incoherent. Director Liebesman, who gave us the dreadful
Darkness Falls, has no clue as to what is exciting, only what is relentlessly violent. The viewer is pummelled into submission with a firestorm of bullets, bombs and bazookas.
The movie’s setting may be Los Angeles but most of it was actually shot in Louisiana. At least Michelle Rodriguez and Bridget Moynahan are easy on the eyes. Otherwise, don’t waste your time on this intergalactic calamity.
