Cliches and overkill

There's plenty of hoo-ha and hoo-rah, but is there much substance to the battle for Los Angeles? David Manning finds out at the movies in Nelson this week.

Battle fatigue, along with movie cliche and handheld-camera exhaustion, could counter the special effect sensations in the latest alien invasion thriller to hit the cinema.

Battle: Los Angeles is a derivative combination of Black Hawk Down, Aliens and War of the Worlds, while also cribbing from District 9, Transformers, Star Wars, Star Trek, Independence Day and Starship Troopers.

Fundamentally, it's a war movie, with a John Wayne-style hero – here, square-jawed, squinty-eyed Aaron Eckhart as a sergeant blamed for the deaths of some of his men in combat in Iraq. Instead of Germans, Japanese, Russians or Arabs, the enemy just happens to be aliens.

As the movie starts, the world is under attack by space invaders. "We cannot lose Los Angeles," an authoritative voice exclaims.

Why? Because that's where Hollywood and celebrities are? No, because the last defensive force in America is there. And that force is the United States Marines – so expect a lot of "hoo-rah!' in the action hoo-ha.

Indeed, the movie at times seems like gung-ho propaganda for the marines. At any moment you half expect to hear the marines' battle hymn: "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea."

The squad of marines, which is the film's focus, has to rescue and evacuate some civilians from a police station before it and the surrounding area is bombarded in an attempt to annihilate some of the alien invaders.

Besides the battle-scarred sergeant, who turns out to be a marine's marine, the squad has the usual hackneyed characters, from the fresh-faced lieutenant to a macho woman warrior played by – who else? – Michelle Rodriguez.

The dialogue is a mix of sport metaphors (a pre-game/battle pep talk, orders to "hold that line") to war cliches of heroism and sacrifice. Roger that.

Predictably, shaky handheld camerawork dominates filming, with an emphasis on close-ups, choppy edits and constant frenzied movement to produce a sense of chaotic combat action. It makes the occasional steady or static shots oases of R and R.

Digital effects are impressive enough, especially panoramic shots of the alien attack on LA. Alien assault aircraft and weaponry, an alien command ship and the aliens themselves look inspired by Star Wars, Star Trek (2009) and District 9 movies in particular.

Overall, however, the story's simplicity – Kill the aliens! Save the world! – and stock characters, who might as well be pawns fighting waves of alien invaders in a videogame, are lost in the movie's overkill.

It's a two-hour war movie that would have been twice as good if only half as long.

Areme-007