Battle Los Angeles (film)

[Jackolantern]

Just saw this last night, and I definitely have to say it was entertaining. While it did have some slightly corny attempts at tear-jerking, it was basically non-stop, wall-to-wall action scenes for nearly 2 hours. I literally think that there was a total of about 5 minutes of downtime. It really reminded me of Gears of War. I recommend it if you are looking for craploads of action without much thinking, or if you want to see basically the movie version of Gears of War lol.

[SpiritWebb]

Does this have any filming documentary style set like Cloverfield or Fourth Kind? If so, I am out. Otherwise def gonna watch it. Been waiting for a good review on it.

[Jackolantern]

No, it does not have the "live filming" style of Cloverfield, parts of Fourth Kind or Blair Witch Project. The camera is "not really there", like most every other movie out there.

Although I have to go on record to say that I actually really like Cloverfield haha. Not that I want every movie to be like that, or even anywhere near every movie, but it can be a nice change of pace for me

[hallsofvallhalla]

awesome will have to watch. Gonna try Skyline tonight. I am hoping it is not "documentary" style

[Jackolantern]

It isn't doc style either, but I did not like Skyline. It is like an awkward mixing of 2 different ends of a spectrum. On one end, it is actually a low-budget movie, made on a shoe-string budget for this type of movie and it shows in the production. On the other end of the spectrum, it tries to be a blockbuster special-effect fest and tries to look like a $100M film (of which its budget is hardly 10% of that). The special effects are good considering they were basically made by two guys in a basement, but from what I saw of the film (we walked out after about 30 minutes, but were seeing it for free anyway), it tries to go a bit too far with what it had to work with.

It basically just felt like a made-for-TV movie.

[OldRod]

I was going to go see this last weekend, but the reviews I saw were not very kind... glad to hear it may not be so bad after all

[Jackolantern]

It is just a mindless, special-effect-fest action flick, and in that regard it does it very well. It is the kind of movie that traditional reviewers hate, since they say these types of movies and the huge ticket sales is what has destroyed Hollywood. I think Avatar is one of the few special-effect-fest movies I have ever seen get even half-way decent reviews.

[ConceptDestiny]

Aiming to go see this one. I was completely put off Skyline following the feedback my work colleagues were saying about skyline -- basically that it was a load of garbage. Hoping Battle Los Angeles won't strike similar to it. :/

[SpiritWebb]

I wanted to see this movie, but some people I work with said it was crap. However after reading Jack's review sounded a lot better, even the box office sales were great. However, I am going to see pAUL tomorrow night and pass along my review of it and wait to watch Battle LA at a later time.

[Jackolantern]

Your work colleagues were probably just expecting something more. Without giving away too much, I can say that the film is very "low-level" in its choice of subjects. It sticks close to only a small group of characters who are at the ground level of the military, and very rarely gives glimpses of the war as a whole, which may disappoint some people. However, it is quite obvious why they did this: because that is where the action is, and there is ample, ample action in Battle L.A. It captures the dizzying confusion of modern skirmishes about as well as I could imagine a battle with alien forces would provide. If someone goes in expecting a "higher-level", with top-level military decisions, and how large amounts of the civilian population are affected, they will not get what they are looking for. If someone goes in expecting more than basic character development, they may be disappointed (although there is a decent storyline going on between 2 members of the group, which I won't give away). But if someone just wants entertaining special-effect-fest combat, they won't be disappointed.

I am not typically into movies like Transformers and things like that because of all the cheesy jokes and goofs that they put into it, and also become I usually like a bit more substance. But luckily this one has none of those stupid jokes, and the action itself makes up for its lack of depth. I was satisfied.

Disclaimer: I also wanted to mention that my repeated posts about this movie should not be taken as a sign of how great I thought it was. I did enjoy it for what it was, but rather, I have wanted to clarify a bit about the movie and have come back to add more detail due to how many members here expressed interest in seeing it.