Jonathan Liebesman’s Battle: Los Angeles is an uninvolving alien invasion thriller, one that mistakes chaos for suspense. The scope of the story is impressively economical — unlike Independence Day, Liebesman and screenwriter Christopher Bertolini do not show the invasion on a macro-scale — but their reliance on undeveloped military characters quickly disengages any sympathy. Actors cannot adequately sell the script’s chest-thumping nationalistic attitude, and their frenzied cries rarely mask Liesbesman’s thoughtlessly amateurish set-pieces. Coupled with disappointingly dull character design, this loud mess is all bluster with little payoff.
Staff Sargeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is a steel-jawed soldier who made his career in the world’s most dangerous battle zones. When mysterious meteors turn out to be harbingers of unwelcome guests, Nantz helps lead a small band of marines on a rescue mission. The top brass will nuke Santa Monica within hours, and he must find the remaining civilians before the bombs detonate. The aliens easily dispatch many of Nantz’s men along with most other remaining soldiers. With their base in ruins, Nantz and others realize they’re all that stands in the way of an alien victory. They will destroy the alien intelligence center or die trying. Hoo-rah.
There are enough ancillary details to suggest that Liebesman realizes he cannot construct a cogent gun battle. Title cards introduce the supporting soldiers, yet their names are immaterial because each of them are defined by a single forgettable characteristic. When Nantz barks orders, his instructions are intended for the audience as well as his fellow soldiers. An overabundance of exposition never lessens the on-screen confusion; it is near-impossible to determine where the solders are in relation to the aliens, and the frenzied editing only adds to the disorientation. Brief character-building scenes offer a break from the mayhem — a nasty autopsy demonstrates Nantz’s resolve, and a discussion of prior wartime mistakes highlights his softer side — yet these attempts at depth do little to differentiate Nantz from any other red-blooded wartime hero. Even with a strong central performance from the always-dependable Eckhart, Liebesman’s faux-guerilla style never lives up to previous depictions of modern warfare.
With handheld camera work and obfuscated aliens, Battle: Los Angeles has more in common with Black Hawk Down than other invasion epics. The latter memorably depicts a soldier’s fatigue and sense of duty; the former depicts their resolve with groan-inducing attempts at inspiration. Moreover, the final scene suggests such superhuman levels of endurance that it undermines the preceding attempt at visceral realism. As for the aliens themselves, they are clumsy combinations of amorphous goo and dull, grey armor. Like the movie itself, the absence of nuance or menace left me wishing deadlier aliens, ones capable of wiping us out expeditiously, invaded the planet instead. That way our fight against extinction wouldn’t feel nearly as long.
