Images courtesy of Columbia Pictures
Against my better judgment, I have chosen the much-maligned Battle: Los Angeles as "Robot Movie of the Week", since I appear to be the only person that actually enjoyed this film. The fact that Battle: Los Angeles has a lower rating on IMDB.com than Kenneth Branagh's Thor is nothing less than mind-boggling to me, and proof that the average internet user is probably... ahem... a lazy-eyed crack whore. I mean that in the nicest possible way, of course. This will be a very short review as this film is still in theaters in many places, including most countries outside of North America, and as, in many ways, the film was rather predictable. In spite of its flaws, Battle: Los Angeles managed to avoid the cringe-worthy moments that Thor was filled with. Indeed, Battle: Los Angeles was pretty entertaining for a war movie, hearkening back to the classic Blackhawk Down, easily the best war film of the last fifteen years. Battle: Los Angeles was impressive to me, because it was easy to forget who the actors were, as they seamlessly assumed the roles of their characters. The film stars Aaron Eckhardt, Michelle Rodriguez, Ne-yo, Ramon Rodriguez, and others. It was directed by South African director, Jonathan Liebesman.
Sgt. Nantz is played by Aaron Eckhardt
Battle: Los Angeles is supposedly based on the much-feared Japanese invasion of Los Angeles in World War II, which never actually occurred. The film falls into the predictable pattern of "aliens invade the Earth" film that the viewer will recall from Independence Day, and the like. Battle: Los Angeles takes a more serious, tone, however, focusing less on creating an entertaining family film, than on depicting the harsh realities of war. The protagonist of the film, if there is one, is Sergeant Nantz, a battle-hardened lifetime military man (played by Eckhardt), who joins a new team right on the heels of an unsuccessful tour in the Middle East, in which he lost several good men. When a meteor shower is revealed to in fact be an alien invasion, Nantz is placed on the team of a young lieutenant fresh out of officer's training (played by Ramon Rodriguez); the team is charged with making it through Santa Monica to a Marine base. Against incredible odds, the team manages to get to the base, only to discover that they are the only surviving Marines in the area. They are left with a unique opportunity to take down a droid control ship and open Los Angeles to air support from the Air Force. With Nantz in control, the liberation of Los Angeles enters the realm of possibility.
The civilians were the chief downfall thematically in the film.
As mentioned above, Battle: Los Angeles is very predictable, even when it comes to the scheduled tear jerker moments. The film might have been unwatchable if the occasional deaths of loved ones and comrades was not spaced between moments of incredible action and bravery on the part of Nantz's Marines. In fact, what saves the film is the high quality acting. Eckhardt and, surprisingly, Ne-yo, give quality performances while Michelle Rodriguez is her usual tough as nails, ambiguously lesbian self. This is a great film to review, for me, because it features robots, in this case, the droids sent by the aliens to wipe out entire areas of human settlement and prepare Los Angeles (and the other cities of the world) for colonization and extraction of resources. The viewer does not get to see much in the way of robotic detail in the film (all we see is the standard mindless killing that we might expect from a "droid"), but the nature of aliens and robots pairing together is unique.
Air support isn't possible with alien control of the air.
Robots in film are often used as the embodiment of the faceless enemy bent on the destruction of humanity and pairing them up with aliens magnifies this fear-inducing distillation of "the enemy". A brief glimpse at what the aliens were about, as was done in the later Predator films, would have been the perfect clincher for this type of movie, but as the focus seems to have been on creating a non-stop action film, it is not surprising that this route was not taken. The sentimental moments (the death of one of the civilians, and the death of the team's lieutenant) were excessively emotional, drawn out, and distracting, but did not detract from the overall quality of the film. Will there be a sequel? The open-ending denouement of the film suggests that the studio at least planned for one, but only time will tell.
The team reaches the base to discover that they are the only surviving Marines in the area.
