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Battle: Los Angeles
is an awesome sci-fi
action movie from
first time director
Jonathan Liebesman.
If his work on this
film is any
indication for
what’s to come, then
he’s in for a very
bright career.
Excellent directing
and brilliant
performances from
Aaron Eckhart,
Michelle Rodriguez,
and a young cast
make this a
memorable sci-fi
flick.
Battle: Los Angeles
is a focused alien
invasion movie.
Instead of looking
at it from a world
perspective when
aliens land here on
earth to take over
the world,
Battle: Los Angeles
focuses in on the
L.A. area. The story
revolves around a
group of marines
who
have to deal with
the invasion when
the odds are stacked
against them.
Michael Nantz
(Eckhart) is a staff
sergeant in the
marines in charge of
getting troops ready
to fight. But he’s a
bit over the hill
and he feels it’s
time to get out so
he submits his
papers for
retirement. Just
after he does this,
there’s a situation
developing in the
sky that’s an
apparent invasion.
So Nantz is back on
duty and ready for
action. He’s
assigned to a new
Lieutenant and a new
squad and the squad
gets sent to rescue
civilians behind
alien lines. They go
on their mission to
see things develop
even further than
they initially
imagined… even for
an alien invasion.
The
movie is very
character driven. We
get stories and
information on the
marines involved in
the fighting and we
get some key
perspective on Nantz
because he’s got a
lot of inner
conflict going on.
The character
development is key
in this movie. For
the most part,
Liebesman and co.
did a good job with
it. There’s a bit
too much developed
early on because
most things don’t
get settled at the
end but it’s still a
key cog in the story
and it works. What
really works for
Battle: Los Angeles
is how this movie
was directed.
Liebesman did a lot
of documentary-type
footage that makes
the movie feel like
a video game. That
makes it awesome.
You can’t really say
how good of a job
that Liebesman did;
you have to see it
for yourself.
Because this was his
first movie that he
directed so there’s
a lot of originality
here and it just
works.
I
don’t want to
discredit Eckhart
for his role as the
star of the movie
here as Michael
Nantz. He’s
brilliant and he’s
easy to root for in
nearly every role
he’s played. He’s
easy to root for
here too. He did a
great job, and as
much as it probably
would have been
better to have
somebody big and
marketable in a role
like this… I don’t
think anybody could
have done a better
job than Eckhart.
Likewise there are
tons of support
roles for marines in
this movie and they
all fit perfectly
with how Liebesman
shot this movie…
very real. There are
several up and
comers involved in
this movie, and five
to ten years from
now we’ll see a few
of them in lead
roles.
The
sights and sounds on
this blu-ray from
Sony are
spectacular. Because
of how Liebesman
shot this film its
key to see it in
high-definition so
you feel like you’re
a part of the
action. A great
sound mix and some
amazing visuals make
this a great blu-ray.
Key bonus features
on Liebesman and
making the movie
push it over the
top. My personal
favorite bonus
feature… the
standard-
we
played marines in a
movie so we went
through boot camp
featurette…
good stuff.
Battle: Los Angeles
is a great film and
it’s fairly
underrated for how
good it was. Eckhart
did a great job as
the star of the
picture and
Liebesman made one
of the most original
films that I’ve
seen. It’s best to
watch this in the
theatre, but now
that it’s on home
video, blu-ray is
the best option and
it doesn’t
disappoint with this
release.
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