A Marine Staff Sergeant who has just had his retirement approved goes back into the line of duty in order to assist a 2nd Lieutenant and his platoon as they fight to reclaim the city of Los Angeles from alien invaders.
Review
Sometimes I go into films knowing what to expect.
Other times I try and avoid as much as possible so I have no clue to the films style and identity, thus allowing me a more engrossing relationship with the film and characters. With Battle LA I went in expecting a certain type of film but watched something much different to my expectations.
After watching trailers and reading up on the plot of Battle LA was I fairly certain this was your typical Alien Invasion movie with a more realistic approach. The first part of the assumption was true, it's your typical aliens invade, try to take over the world, band of heroes save the day, movie. My second assumption of a 'more realistic approach' was also correct but not to the extent that was shown and depicted in the actual film.
The filmmakers obviously set out to make a more realistic alien invasion movie and must have decided upfront that this would be the style and, if you will, branding of the film. The trailer doesn't lie, I even stated at the time that it looked more realistic, but the posters and marketing material certainly showed a different movie to what the trailer did.
It really did surprise me how 'real' everything seemed, from the army manoeuvres, weaponry, tactics and camerawork, your right in with the troops going through every action and emotional set-piece. It was this that made me feel that I missing out on my alien movie, where were the blasters and the crazy aliens and their spaceships. Independence Day this is not.
The gritty realism of war against an invading foe is shown quite vividly and, if other war movies and news reports are to be believed, depicted as close to what really happens as is possible. If you take the aliens out of the picture this enemy could be any of this earthly world. Up to an extent. There's an over-the-top ending that takes away a little of what went on before but you will have to detach from reality if your movie is part alien sci-fi.
The film is worth watching but watching after you know what your about to see. This is a fairly gritty, war movie that includes aliens, not the sci-fi spectacle its posters seem to make it out to be. If I'd known this before hand I might have enjoyed it a bit more but as such it just remained okay.
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