Battle: Los Angeles Didn’t Fail the Critics. The Critics Failed Battle: LA

I don’t listen to movie critics because, for the most part, what do they know? They praise a movie that I think is boring or horribly trite. And they pan a movie that is either the height of entertainment or nails the assignment. Their opinion, most often, is wrong. Such is the case with a movie that I think got it right: Battle: Los Angeles.

I saw this movie in the theaters, and I’ve seen it dozens of times since I bought it. And I know enough that the critics didn’t know what the hell they were talking about when they gave this movie bad reviews. 

Roger Ebert’s review: He gave it half a star out of four, called it an insult to the words “science, fiction, and the hyphen in science-fiction,” and implied that if your date enjoyed the movie, you should reconsider the relationship. Fuck that guy, RIP. He liked Home Alone 3, so his credibility had been suspect since then. Battle: LA debuted at number one with $35 million and eventually grossed $212 million worldwide on a $70 million budget. Again, what the hell do the critics know? Clearly not movies about the military. Which this was. 

Independence Day, this is not

They should have paid more attention, or better yet, pulled their heads out of their ass. Critics had a movie in mind before they sat down, and when they didn’t get it, they punished this one for not being that. Aaron Eckhart said out loud that the goal was a documentary-style war movie with aliens. The director said it. It’s on record. Even though this is a movie about an alien invasion and contains military combat, what they expected was another Independence Day-style Hollywood action movie. 

Some of the problems began with the trailer. If you watch it now, then watch the actual movie, what you see is not what you get. I blame that on marketing not understanding what the point of the movie was and who their intended audience was. 

Battle: Los Angeles Trailer

The trailer focuses on some of the more steady camera moments. It doesn’t hide or pretend that the movie isn’t about an alien invasion. But it doesn’t inform in any way that this is focused on a specific marine platoon, which changes the tone altogether. This is where critics start the basis of their opinion. They watched the trailer and assumed the rest. This was a military action film. 

Anyone who has served time in the military, or watched at least a couple of battle-oriented documentaries, knows that the combat photographers who are boots on the ground filming the action are not only literally in the line of fire, but they’re also not preoccupied with steadicam footage, but instead with capturing the action while staying alive themselves. 

From the moment the movie begins, following the individual marines in the squad, it gives all of the information one needs to be able to follow them once they’re in the heat of battle. As if they were being documented for posterity during this historic event. 

There can be more than one kind of military movie

Battle: Los Angeles captured that in the best way possible. For a movie about an alien invasion in a major US city, they do a good job of capturing the disorientation and chaos of urban warfare. The camera moves around, and it jumps as the cameraman is running, or crouching, or avoiding enemy gunfire. As a veteran, I find watching this movie satisfying. Other movies are satisfying in their own way. One is Saving Private Ryan. 

Three scenes stand out to me in SPR. The D-Day invasion scene is the standard. I have read accounts from WWII veterans who were there who said it was probably the closest anyone has come to recreating that day in movie form. Another scene that differentiates this one in a cinematic way is the Nazi sniper scene. It is gritty; you feel the tension, and they get close in front of the soldiers’ faces, but it prioritizes steady cam and storytelling over POV. You’re getting in close to Private Carpazo while he lies bleeding out while holding the letter to his father. You’re not getting that level of story in a boots-on-the-ground battle documentary. Lastly, the scene at the end, when Ryan and his family go to Arlington National Cemetery, and he breaks down at the grave of Captain Miller, well, that is a very Hollywood movie moment. You’re not getting that kind of emotional depth in a movie that is primarily a boots-on-the-ground battle documentary-type film.

Saving Private Ryan gives them the Hollywood story and drama. It gives them steadier camera work prioritized over realism. They can’t penalize Battle: LA for being just that, a realness account about a battle against aliens. It was the whole point of the movie, and they missed it. Both movies can exist, as long as the movie watcher accepts that they aren’t going to get the same formula every time they watch a military movie. If the only palatable serving of military film that the critics are willing to accept is movies like SPR, well then they are wrong.

Alpha Bravo Charlie

Battle: Los Angeles got the jargon right. A good example is the briefing SSGT Nantz and LT Martinez get at the Santa Monica FOB (Forward Operating Base). A civilian hears noise. Probably wonders why there isn’t more information or a presentation. A veteran hears a unit getting its orders, the way orders actually sound, compressed and assumed and not explained to anyone in the room, especially not if you’re a grunt. The terminology used in the movie is top-tier, and they did a good job of making it feel real. This could have actually been a unit on a mission in Los Angeles, actually combating an unknown enemy not of this world. From the way that information is passed down through the chain of command, to the way sometimes you have to deal with bullshit situations that are less than ideal (as was the case with the Marines’ reactions when SSGT Nantz got assigned to their unit) and roll with it because those are orders. That’s all a good depiction of what it’s like.  

Battle: LA doesn’t translate for civilians because it was never meant to. It was made for the people who already know what that briefing sounds like. The only time any explanations are made is from the Marines directly to the civilians they went to rescue from the police substation. The audience gets no such courtesy. That is the point.

In my opinion, critics don’t know shit about the military. Not unless they’re veterans themselves. It’s hard to conceptualize that reality unless it was your reality once upon a time. In times of peace, I get the feeling (and history might support my theory) that civilians would like to pretend that the military doesn’t exist. Up to and including watering down the veteran experience. 

It’s easier to deny the horrors of war if you never have to experience what it is really like. So armchair bandits like the critics that gave this movie 37% are just disrespectful because this is what it’s like. It’s not pretty. It’s not fun. It’s chaotic and stressful, and it never makes sense to anyone not in it. Civilian critics don’t just misunderstand military films; they actively prefer a sanitized version because the real version is an indictment. 

It’s too real, Roy

I’ve rewatched this movie recently, specifically to put into words why I enjoy this movie so much. I love science fiction and action movies, and I was in the military. As a veteran, some military movies are hard to watch. Either they’re too real, or too patriotic, or problematic for other reasons. The military can sometimes be depicted in ridiculous ways, I’m looking at you, Transformers (Michael Bay). This movie lives in that Venn diagram sweet spot where the three genres meet and knocks it out of the park with accuracy, great casting, and believable dialogue. 

Aaron Eckhart doesn’t look like an action hero. And in my observation is that in reality, the most badass servicemen look like ordinary Joes. They’re not usually the Schwarzeneggers or Stallones of the world. (Although Predator is one of my all-time favorite movies on constant rewatch.) They’re unassuming, dedicated individuals who pull off selfless feats in service to their country. That’s honor and commitment. I feel like watching Battle: Los Angeles.