{"id":2409,"date":"2013-05-27T17:26:05","date_gmt":"2013-05-27T17:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/?p=2409"},"modified":"2013-05-27T20:25:45","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T20:25:45","slug":"lost-review-battle-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolutionsf.com\/revblogs\/geekcurmudgeon\/2013\/05\/27\/lost-review-battle-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"Lost Review: Battle: Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beginning in December 2005 with my history of apes in film essay \u201cGorilla of Your Dreams\u201d (the\u00a0substantially\u00a0update and\u00a0revised\u00a0version\u00a0appears in\u00a0The Apes of Wrath<\/em><\/a>), I regularly contributed to\u00a0Moving Pictures Magazine<\/em>. First in the print incarnation and then for primarily the website. I contributed reviews and essays for the last three years of the publications existence. Following the June 2011 demise of both the print and website editions, all of the digital work for\u00a0MPM<\/em>\u00a0disappeared into the ether. In the coming months (years?), I plan on reposting many of my reviews and articles.<\/p>\n

For this special Memorial Day\u00a0edition, I re-present my review of the alien invasion war flick\u00a0Battle: Los Angeles<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"File:Battle<\/p>\n

Battle: Los Angeles<\/em>
\nReviewed by Rick Klaw
\n(March 2011)<\/p>\n

Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman
\nWritten by Christopher Bertolini
\nStarring: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, and a bunch of other faceless people<\/p>\n

Further evidence of the continuing degradation of the once proud American action film, Battle: Los Angeles<\/em> relies on egregious war movie stereotypes and clich\u00e9s in this disastrously bad hybrid of Blackhawk Down<\/em> and an alien invasion picture. For their essentially 90 minute video game complete with quests and required trick shots to down enemies, director Jonathan Liebesman (The Killing Room<\/em>) and writer Christopher Bertolini (The General’s Daughter<\/em>) ostensibly took inspiration from The Battle of Los Angeles, a falsely reported World War II air raid, for their poorly-crafted story of Marines making a last stand against alien invaders.<\/p>\n

Throughout, Liebesman relies on a herky-jerky documentary camera. While successfully emulating the chaos and tension present in combat, even the most junior documentarians know to employ a tripod when recording people sitting around talking. Not that the lack of movement would have improved Bertolini’s atrocious dialogue, a slap-dash kitchen sink of nearly everything ever spoken in a military movie. The usually reliable Aaron Eckhart (Rabbit Hole<\/em>) stiffly sleepwalks through the abundant explosions and inane scenes. Michelle Rodriguez (Machete<\/em>) once again portrays the tough chick with a gun. None of the characters or actors manage to rise up out of this muck and display anything memorable. Even the aliens are dull, offering nothing unique or particularly interesting. Leibesman and Bertolini rely on bad science and a thinly envisioned invasion concept.<\/p>\n

The at times exciting action sequences function fine while guns are ablazin’ and things go boom, but the moment someone opens their mouth, any semblance of quality quickly flushes away. The strategic decisions by both the humans and aliens border on the inane. Amidst heavy combat, Marines take time to argue amongst each other, bullets whizzing by. Rarely, does either side run out of ammo, even after an extensive firefight. The expected people live and die. None of the film’s outcomes will surprise save for the least experience action film goer.<\/p>\n

Amounting to not much more than a Marines recruitment video, Battle: Los Angeles<\/em> offers little of substance and even fails in its primary mission as a diverting summer entertainment.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CWPkJD0YHeM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beginning in December 2005 with my history of apes in film essay \u201cGorilla of Your Dreams\u201d (the\u00a0substantially\u00a0update and\u00a0revised\u00a0version\u00a0appears in\u00a0The Apes of Wrath), I regularly contributed to\u00a0Moving Pictures Magazine. First in the print incarnation and then for primarily the website. I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies","category-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n