"Battle: Los Angeles" Brings the War into Your Home

"Battle: Los Angeles" did not garner much positive attention when it was released into theaters, but I had mid-range hopes for its entertainment value when I rented it on Blu-ray. I was not disappointed, even if it doesn't have any extreme "wow" factor.

The movie "Battle: Los Angeles" stars Aaron Eckhart as the main focus of character attention, but you may also recognize talent such as Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Pena, Bridget Moynahan, and Ne-Yo. The premise, as directed by Jonathan Liebesman, is simple: aliens are invading Earth and the city of Los Angeles becomes a war zone.

Everything that is considered bad about this movie by many critics, also works in the movie's favor, IF, this is your type of movie. Fans of military movies should have plenty to get excited about as the movie does the raise your adrenaline while watching some soldiers go into battle dance and the shaky camera effects are just part of the boogie. You can claim that the camera work keeps one from seeing much of the actual action happening in combat, and I agree that the aliens are not very detailed on the battlefield, however, the camera work also keeps the pace at the right speed and did not cause my eyes to vomit.

The acting in this movie is standard, no one does anything to stretch beyond the material, which is once again a positive thing with all things considered. Aaron Eckhart has exactly the right amount of prescence as an aging, hero marine, and the supporting cast do not get in the way. One could complain that there is a lack of overall character depth amongst the cast, but then again, I thought it worked well and not truly "caring" about the characters meant I did not have to try and keep up with who was who during all of the firefights. Michelle Rodriguez was looking cute in her battle gear.

This is not top of the line CGI or top of the line summer blockbuster movie making, nor is it bottom of the line, "Battle: Los Angeles" is a middle ground movie, that is probably too low for many, but just right for many more. I felt like the movie did its job as a piece of entertainment and I enjoyed the little burst of "Pow!" that it brought to my afternoon. There is not any extreme "wow" to the movie, but there were some cool visuals, (regular wow?), to be seen. "Battle: Los Angeles" is a dude movie and worth a rental if you are a dude into dude movies.