Rent Battle Los Angeles on Amazon Video (paid link)
Written by: Christopher Bertolini
Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez, Bridget Moynahan, Ne-Yo, Michael Peña
Rated: PG-13
Watch the trailer
Plot
A squad of U.S. Marines becomes the last line of defense against a global invasion.
Verdict
This is a lot of fun. It's a war movie, but the twist is that the Marines are fighting aliens. That's a fresh take for the genre, and this manages to balance action with emotional moments despite the limited story. The crux of the plot is a Marine near retirement that's called into action. His squad mates question a prior tour, and in this movie he wins them over by stopping at nothing to fight the aliens. It's simple and effective while also widely exceeding my expectations. The fate of the world truly is at stake.
Watch It.
Review
The first scene begins with the military already at war, though we don't see the enemy. Then this flashes back to before the battle begins. Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is a Marine ready to retire, but he's called into duty due to an emergency evacuation.
Meteors headed to many prominent coastal cities isn't a good thing. Knowing the premise of the movie, we know what it is. Why was no one concerned about the meteors? They seems rather precise. The Marines are tasked with helping to evacuate people in Los Angeles. Several scenes introduce us to various Marines, the ones we'll follow into battle. Nantz is transferred to a different unit where they're wary of him. We've heard his last deployment encountered problems.
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| Aaron Eckhart plays Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz |
The meteors are an attack, and this wastes very little time getting into it. The situations has devolved so quickly that the military plans to destroy Santa Monica to push the aliens back. I wondered if we'd see the aliens. So far they've been obscured. It's the best way to do it to increase tension and leverage the audience's imagination.
The Marines are outmatched as a firefight ensures, and they're soon divided and retreating. The Lieutenant that was wary of Nantz and made a point to let Nantz know it's his platoon is shell shocked. He's now relying on Nantz. They coordinate a helicopter evacuation only to learn the aliens can easily disable aircraft.
It's a frenetic action movie from nearly the start as the Marines face a powerful foe. The soldiers manage to detain an injured alien, performing an impromptu dissection in an effort to find a weakness. These are strange looking creatures that live up to the suspense.
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| Michelle Rodriguez plays Technical Sergeant Elena Santos |
What's left of the soldiers and a few found civilians try to escape on a bus. That's when Nantz realizes the aliens track them through radio and cellular waves. He manages to take out an alien drone, and this platoon that didn't trust him now fully counts on him. That adds a nice layer of emotion and stakes to these action scenes. We suspect there's more to Nantz, and that he's not as guilty as the soldiers seem to think.
Nantz faces a similar situation as this infamous past deployment where soldiers think he failed, and that's right after they began trusting him. That provides another moment when he proves himself. Unfortunately there's no more base and most of L.A. has been wiped out. What's left of the Marines stage another attack in the hopes they can take out a suspected alien base.
This sets itself apart from other war movies since the enemy is an alien. Nantz having to overcome rumors provides a subplot that makes us root for him personally in addition to hoping the Marines can defend Los Angeles. At the end of the movie, Nantz is leading the way with the platoon following right behind him. It's a nice ending to a movie that exceeded my expectations.
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