On the day Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is due to retire from the marine corps, the planet is invaded by aliens who immediately begin a conquest of L.A. Sgt. Nantz is assigned to a squad under the command of fresh officer William Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez) who are sent ahead of the U.S. defensive lines to secure civilians who are trapped by the aliens. But with 3 hours to go until a massive bomb drop, and with his soldiers dropping like flies, the chances of Nantz and the marines getting back into the human side of the city safely are getting thinner by the second.
It finally happened: an alien invasion film where the focus is on the soldiers, not a bunch of screaming teenagers who find time to hook up while bug-eyed monsters are taking over the planet. In fact probably the only other film to follow this trend might be Predator. The way the film is made is exceedingly clever to boot: the story is perpetrated by snippets from new bulletins and radio reports about the Alien invasion as if it is really happening and when it is combined with the noise of battle and explosions going on in the background, the entire battle is captured as if the audience is right there with the marines who have to guess at everything that is going on as if it really happened. Indeed, this coupled with the Point of View style cinematography, one could almost pass this film off as interacting with the audience.
The Aliens too were given a great deal of thought and attention. As I said before, the film entirely follows the small band of marines lead by Eckhart and Rodriguez: there are no cut aways to smart scientist of people who have met the aliens before so both the characters and the audience have to guess as to what their intentions are for their invasion. Not only that, but a large part of their design is made to look so similar to our own military forces that the result is much more than just some rampaging horde, but rather a well structured invasion force that is sure to become one of the great alien species that debuted on screen.
The result is one hell of a good film. Every member of the cast gives outstanding performances, although there are one too many cheesy one-liners and Eckhart's character seems to be ripping John Wayne entirely, but these are made up for but extreme battlefield heroics and characters that are much more than what we see on screen. The action and time frame that the characters have to work within is guaranteed to keep anyone on their seat. Everything about Battle: Los Angeles makes it the unquestioned companion of every SCI-fi movie lover out there. Why bother watching more teenagers screaming teenagers when you can see the men who actually do something constructive during an alien invasion?
