Battle: Los Angeles. Rated M (science fiction violence and coarse language). 116 minutes. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman. Screenplay by Christopher Bertolini.
Given the recent events in Libya, Japan, Egypt, Afghanistan and Iraq, good old Hollywood, it could be argued, is going through something of an identity crisis. The after-life drama Hereafter was recently withdrawn from release in Japan because its distributors believed that the epic tsunami sequence that kicks the movie off might only add to the post-traumatic shock being experienced by Japanese audiences. There’s a short, stock, standard tsunami sequence in Battle: Los Angeles too – and the only possible reaction can be “Ya reckon?!” A month or two ago it might have been a moment of singular, freakish astonishment. Today, in any context, it’s just pointless.
Like the cinema-defying events of 9/11, our recent experiences of an angry, hostile and unstable planet are, somewhat perversely, becoming more and more like ‘watching a movie’ than going to the cinema is. The “it’s like I was watching a movie” analogy has been used quite frequently in recent times – as we struggle to comprehend the epic destruction we have all witnessed.
Enter Battle: Los Angeles – the latest invading aliens vs the might of the American Armed Forces blockbuster. Straight-up (and this movie plays it as straight up as it’s possible to), there’s nothing whatsoever wrong with this film. Liebesman (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) and his Chainsaw Massacre cinematographer Lukas Ettlin do an admirable job of embedding us at the very heart of all the non-stop action, while Bertolini’s entirely serviceable screenplay is a perfect example of alien invasion/war movie by numbers.
The cast, lead by Aaron Eckhart (Rabbit Hole, The Dark Knight, In the Company of Men) all run around dodging bullets and bombs (well, some of them do anyway) as confidently as you might expect, and the entire 116 minutes is welded together to within an inch of its life by editor Christian Wagner (Fast & Furious). Brian Tyler’s (Fast & Furious, The Expendables) score more than adequately lends a typical militaristic flourish to the proceedings, and while the special effects are not particularly as memorable as one might have expected, they are certainly competent (in an ‘invading alien forces’ kind of way).
Ultimately, however, for this destruction-fatigued reviewer anyway, the entire experience resembled nothing more interesting or entertaining than waiting for a kettle to boil.
This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.
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