Turk February Witnesses BATTLE: LOS ANGELES!! A Report From A Very, Very Early Test Screening...

Merrick here...
A reader called Turk February sent in some thoughts on a recent super-early screening of BATTLE: LOS ANGELES, which stars Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez in a "realistic"/shakey-cam/CLOVERFIELDian chronicling of an extra-terrestrial invasion of The City of Angels. PLEASE NOTE: the review below pertains to a recent, but extremely early, screening of a film that isn't supposed to hit theaters until early next year. As such, much about the picture could change between the version seen by Turk and the final product we'll eventually see released to screens (much of the effects work may not be finished, final sound mixes are not laid in, there's probably color work and editorial tweaking to be finalized, etc.) As such, consider this write-up a glimpse into where the project is at this point in time only...it's way too early to be rendering final verdicts. This said, I've been really, really curious about this movie for some time - especially after reading composer Brian Tyler's enthusiastic response to the project's developmental material, so I'm a teeny bit jealous that Turk got a look at it at (even in this stage of its development).
Here's what he/she had to say...

Just got back from an advance screening of Battle Los Angeles in Roseville, CA tonight and thought I would drop a line or two about my thoughts on the film. Going into the screening I knew little about Battle Los Angeles other than it was another alien invasion movie starring Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez and was described by wikipedia as Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day. That description, which I assume is how a producer pitched it to the studio, sounded apt going in but it after seeing BLA it falls more on the Black Hawk Down -lite, meets Halo/Call of Duty than ID4 (thankfully) My expectations for this movie weren't set high because at this point what more can you do in the mankind vs. hostile alien realm? Not much and BLA proves this but thats not to say that BLA is a bad movie or not well made but it offers nothing necessarily new. I guess the main selling point to separate BLA from other alien invasion films would be that where the alien invasion in ID4 was over the top, impersonal and grand in scale the action in BLA was gritty and obviuosly meant to echo the firefights in BHD. The movie begins with the news flashing the date April 12, 2011 and news reports from around the world show that meteors, undetected until reaching earths atmosphere, are crashing into coasts along major cities all around the world. As this is happening we are introduced to Eckharts Staff Sargeant Nantz who on the day of the invasion is signing his discharge papers from the marine corp. When signing his papers we are treated to some not so subtle exposition between Eckhart and a fellow marine that he's too old for this shit (perhaps Comrade Glover is in fact now too old for this shit), he's highly decorated, has the medals to prove it but that last tour was tough and he lost a lot of good men (very Ted Striker vibe here) We are also introduced to the rest of the marines in Sgt Nantz' company all of them who are cliches we've seen in every other war movie out there - the young hotshot, the soldier suffering from PTSD, the rookie, the marine getting married, one with a pregnant wife, etc. Most of these characters are poorly fleshed out and only introduced to have us give a "oh that was that guy/I'm supposed to care he about him" when they die in battle throughout the movie. As we are meeting all of the marines we have intercutting scenes of the alien invasion played out on news reports on tv, most of the scenes very Cloverfield/District 9-esque. We don't get a good look at the alien invaders, just quick cuts, silhouettes and yes shaky cam footage of the aliens upon the initial invasion. The marines are mobilized and dropped into battle...Los Angeles. As soon as Nantz' company lands we learn that their orders are to evacuate any survivors that they can and to get out of Los Angeles within three hours before airstrikes are called in to level the city. From there on out its a lot of Call of Duty move from point A to point B objectives with firefights with the aliens along the way. Along the way we lose several of the marines we were introduced to in the beginning but because there were so many of them we met and none of them really stand out beyond their seen=it-before characters we don't really care when we lose them and the film just keeps chugging along until the next action scene. The Bad - If it sounds like I am hung up on all the cliche characters I could get past it if the team behind the movie didn't feel the need to bludgeon you over the head with them. Other minor issues I had with the film - the over reliance on pop/rap music in the beginning - "Hey look the marines are hanging out and playing on their down time - throw the new Eminem song on in the background", "When we show pre-invasion LA lets put on "California Love (get it?)" Also I realize the score was probably temporary or unfinished but when ever things were tense during the battle scenes I could've swore it was music I had heard playing Halo almost in the exact same scenarios. Some of the CGI looked unpolished but I am guessing, hoping, this is because the film is unfinished. Like I said earlier the filmmakers aren't ones to favor subtlety this carried over into scenes towards the end where Eckhart's character gives a rally the troops speech that while it doesn't reach ID4 level cheese, it is a bit over the top for the BHD vibe they were trying to create. Also a death scene of a background character towards the end of the mvoie carries too much weight for someone who previously received 2 minutes (if that) screen time. The Good - The acting. yes I harped on the underdeveloped characters but I blame this on the bare bones screenplay. Everyone does what they can with what they are given. The action -none of the scenes are going to blow your mind but they are solid, tense when needed, though if you are averse to shakey cam you probably won't like it. While the shaky cam doesn't reach Greengrass levels its there and shot to make you feel like you are there in the shit with Eckhart's company. The action was reminiscent of the Halo shorts Neil Blompkampf shot before making District 9 (which was pretty much his Halo movie) The Meh - The aliens - once we finally get a good look at the aliens they are a bland amalgumation of aliens we've seen before like a mixture of the tentacled tripods in Speilbergs War of the Worlds, meets District 9 bugs, meet the Flood from Halo. They are not particularly menacing, just very generic looking. There was also not very much dimension given to the aliens as to their history, where they were from or why they were invading other than they were here for our water but no reason was given as to why. Michelle Rodriguez - once her air force/pilot character shows up midway through the film the audience let out a collective groan as if to say "oh her again, doing her tough chick" routine yet again. She doesn't get a ton of screen time and she isn't necessarily bad but does she have any range? Bridget Moynahan - her character, a civilian, was an afterthought, there only to nod and say "ok" when instructed by Eckhart. Sewer scenes - the tone tried to shift to an Alien, horror type vibe for these scenes but could only employ weak crutch jump scare tactics. The End - a bit anti-climatic but expected for a modest budgeted, non-summer tentpole sci fi movie. It felt a little too video game blow up objective/boss battle. The audience I saw BLA with certainly enjoyed it and I did as well. By no means will this be a sci fi classic along the lines of District 9 but if the filmmakers aim was to make a Black Hawk Down alien invasion movie they met that goal. I would only recommend toning back the schmaltz of the death and speech scenes and ditching the pop music. Overall I was entertained and would recommend this to sci fi/disaster movie fans. I hate to evoke the CoD/Halo themes again but fans of those games, male teens - 30's will enjoy BLA but probably forget about it soon thereafter. If you use this call me Turk February

We'll likely be receiving a few more write-ups in the near future - we'll be sure to pass them along should they come in.
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