Samuel Edwards dives into the Battle Los Angeles movie 10 years after its initial release.
Has there been a lack of really good action science fiction alien invasion films over the last ten years?
In the post-2007 Transformers age, directors started to roll the dice on the big fun sci-fi flicks.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the alien invasion flick that critics hated Battle Los Angeles (2011), but is it time to give the film another shot?
When Battle Los Angeles came out, films in a similar genre included Super 8 , Cowboys and Aliens, The Thing, and Attack the Block. Edge of Tomorrow (2014) may have been one of the standout alien invasion films of the last ten years, yet Battle Los Angeles got the most amount of criticism out of all of these releases. Is this criticism fair?
Some say the film was the wanna-be Black Hawk Down (2001) meets Independence Day (1996) which in truth was what the director wanted.
In my opinion, there are elements to enjoy in Battle Los Angeles, but the script is what lets the film down the most.
Although, the film can be enjoyed from a visual perspective and it does come down to expectation.
By 2011, new CGI technology was becoming the driving point in what audiences and fans of cinema wanted to see. Directors could create monsters, spaceships, and robots like never before.
The same year, we saw Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig team up for the surprisingly fun Cowboys and Aliens (2011) and Gareth Edwards worked on his minor miracle piece Monsters (2010) the year before.
Whilst Cowboys and Aliens (2011) proved to be a guilty pleasure, mainly due to its title and sense of charm, Battle Los Angeles on the other hand has flown completely under the radar and may be remembered for the film that could have been great based on its promising trailers.
When the concept was first brought to the world of global advertising, audiences were impressed with the tense trailer, featuring The Dark Knight’s (2008) with Aaron Eckhart and End of Watch’s (2012) Michael Pena.
Aaron Eckhart is the bold spot throughout the film, he proves to be a competent war leader who can pull of drama very well, it’s a shame that some of his lines don’t always work.
The film is brought to us by Jonathan Liebesman, who will be directing the upcoming Halo TV series starring Pablo Schreiber as Master Chief.
Upon looking at Liebesman’s filmography, he loves big-budget visual effects and it’s the visuals that seem to be his niche.
His most notable directed film lately was 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The story is written by Christopher Bertolini who wrote The General’s Daughter with John Travolta back in 1999. He has yet to write a film since.
However, one of the main problems audiences had with the film was the overuse of shaky cam.
The director was going for a hyper-realistic take on what alien combat would look like. The end result may give some nausea.
Your enjoyment of the film is all dependent on expectation. This concept was been done to death, but it’s all about the execution and the soundtrack by Brian Tyler adds to the experience.
You can see all the plot points unfold like a ticking box, but you go for the overall experience. The sound of the bullets flying past the soldiers and the sacrifices they make is what the production crew cares most about.
A more concerning aspect of the film is the realization that a potential alien form could resemble the species shown in the film, which would be terrifying, although not as terrifying as Alien.
Some of the photo stills would be enough to get you excited. Take a look.
Each image has elements of tragedy, awe, and spectacle. The cinematographer is Lukas Ettlin who worked on Transformers and The Lincoln Lawyer.
With all this said, how did the film do critically and financially?
With a budget of 70 million, the film grossed $211,819,354 worldwide. It turns out that audiences generally liked the concept. Despite Simon Mayo enjoying the film, most Critics, weren’t so friendly, with a rotten tomatoes score of 36%. IGN was more favorable towards the flick and saw the film for what it was and what it was trying to do, giving the film a respectable 3 out of 5 stars.
A sequel has been rumored but never confirmed. The film is available on Netflix and I do recommend it just for the cinematic experience.
Although this film is not based on a video game, it certainly feels like it and for that, you might say it’s the best video game to cinematic experience thus far.
If you click with Eckhart’s tough military character and buy into his backstory, then I think the film holds some emotional weight.
What do you think? Was the Battle Los Angeles movie unfairly judged?
