5 replies to this topic

[Dave]

Battle: Los Angeles - Crap or not crap?
I was surprised to see how negative the reviews of this were. I thought it was a competent, entertaining military movie. Most of the usual military movie cliches are there, but they aren't played out in a hammy way. Aaron Eckhart is really good in a role most actors whould phone-in. The rest of the cast is solid. Ebert complained about the CG. I sorta get what he's saying, but I found it easier to suspend my disbelief along the lines that the bio-exo-armor affected the aliens' gait. Some parts are predictable. It will be easy to guess some of the deaths. On the other hand, the action is pretty intense and while the city fighting doesn't compare to, say, Spielberg's work in Saving Private Ryan (which is a wonderful example of directing a complicated fight), it easily outshines most contemporary action movies. Not crap.

[Chad]

I liked it. I think it ran a bit on the long side but I'd redbox it again any night. Not crap.

I did read one online review where he said this movie was a copy of Blackhawk Down except with aliens instead of Somalians. That kind of made me like it more.

[Dave]

Funny you should say that, because I thought the same thing when I watched it. I was like, wow, this is what I hoped Blackhawk Down would've been. I think I've mentioned it before but there was a History Channel (?) recreation of that incident--complete with interviews of surviving American soldiers--that was made maybe two years before the movie. It was 10x better and more intense than the film. It was like that PBS special of the Medal of Honor winners. I was riveted. Gripping-the-seat riveted.

[Chad]

I saw this before I knew there was an actual event it was inspired by. I loved the official report for it too, they shot something like 80,000 rounds of ammunition for over half an hour at "nothing" and afterward said it was a case of nerves. HA.

[Microphoneyo]

It hit absolutely every cliche possible a military movie could have. The grizzled sergeant on his last day before retirement getting called back, the rookie who is going to propose, Michelle Rodriguez playing Michelle Rodriguez as Michelle Rodriguez. Where's the energy, that spark that grabs your attention and actually makes you care about the characters?

[Chad]

Microphoneyo, on 07 March 2012 - 03:26 AM, said:

Michelle Rodriguez playing Michelle Rodriguez as Michelle Rodriguez.

I have to agree with you here, Michelle Rodriguez is just AWFUL and has the ability to ruin an entire movie by doing that thing she does, you know, when she talks.