Battle: Los Angeles (2011)

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3 star rating THE Screened Review by Matt Rorie

It soullessly goes through the motions like the drones it kills hundreds of, but there's enough solid action in Battle: LA to entertain.
GB review user review
Jonathan Liebesman director previously directed The Killing Room

Sci-Fi Action Thriller with Aaron Eckhart set in the midst of LA.
Trivia:

The film uses real military extras and aircraft including infantry from 2nd Battalion 1st Marines, Marine reservists from 3rd Battalion 23rd Marines, MV-22 Ospreys from VMMT-204, and CH-46 Sea Knights from HMM-268 and HMM-774.

1 More Trivia
Quote: Sergeant Major Dever

At 14:46, Pacific Standard Time, twelve different locations over the globe were breached, in what appears to have been a co-ordinated attack by an unknown enemy. This is a textbook military invasion. We are the last offensive force on the west coast. We cannot lose Los Angeles!

10 More Quotes
Writers
Cast
Aaron Eckhart Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz
Michelle Rodriguez Technical Sergeant Elana Santos
Ramon Rodriguez 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez
Ne-Yo Corporal Kevin Harris
Lucas Till Corporal Scott Grayston
Bridget Moynahan Michele
Joey King Kirsten
Michael Peña Joe Rincon
Noel Fisher Private Lenihan
Jim Parrack Lance Corporal Peter Kerns
See Full Credits

Plot 

The film starts during August 2011. It opens with a rapid montage of aliens attacking Los Angeles and the military struggling with keeping the situation under control. It's revealed that most of the cities on the west coast have gone dark, leaving L.A. as the last non occupied west coast city. It is made explicitly clear that, if L.A. falls, the west coast is gone.  
 
The film flashes back several hours before the invasion, introducing you to multiple characters. Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) is a day away from retirement, deciding to throw the towel in after a disastrous operation in Afghanistan that cost him his entire squad. 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez just got out of boot camp and has just been assigned a team of young rookies including Corporal Kevin Harris who has a personal vendetta against Nantz since his brother died during the infamous Afghan operation. 
 
As the sun rises over L.A. a cluster of meteors enter earth's atmosphere. What starts out as a harmless cluster of meteors ends up crashing on the beaches of Santa Monica. The army is called upon to control the situation and Nantz is forced back into duty under the command of Martinez. It is revealed that the meteorites slowed down before impact and before anyone can realize what is going on, giant, semi-robotic aliens emerge from the rubble and start to kill everything in sight. Martinez and his team are tasked with getting to a police station in Santa Monica where several civilians are holed up. They only have a couple of hours to make it there before the army carpet bombs Santa Monica. 
  
The squad doesn't trust Nantz at first, complaining but complying. After several encounters with the aliens, the squad joins up with the remains of another squad almost solely composed of technical sergeant Elena Santos. The squad suffer multiple injuries but end up making it to the station where only 5 civilians have managed to escape the aliens (3 of which are children). It's revealed that the aliens are colonizing earth as the attacks are taking place around the world (Hong-Kong, Hamburg, Paris...) and that they are colonizing it for its water which seems to serve as fuel.  
 
The squad decide to extract the civilians via helicopter since the army still controls the air. Before the civilians can be extracted however, wounded members of the squad board the helicopter and are swiftly obliterated by a flying alien drone. Discouraged but still willing to get of Santa Monica before it's wiped off the map, the squad along with the civilians, head for the closest military base. Along the way, they figure out that the aliens can only be killed via a bullet to where the human heart would be. 
 
As the squad treks across the ravaged city, avoiding alien drones, they end up trapped on a highway belt. As the aliens begin to overrun them, Martinez sacrifices himself so the group can escape. One of the civilians gets fatally wounded, leaving his son in Nantz's care. The carpet bombing ends up not taking place as the entire airforce has been wiped out. The group makes it to the F.O.B only to find it destroyed. There, Nantz confronts Harris about his brother and gives everyone a big inspirational speech about how they're going to make it out alive. The group manages to find one of the last evac copters of the area and manage to successfully get the civilians out of harm's way. 
 
Santos explains that her team's goal was to deliver an ordnance on the alien's central command center. Nantz and his squad figure out where the command center is and proceed to destroy it via guided missiles. With the command center gone, the aliens begin retreating and all the drones cease operating. Nantz and his team are extracted to a military base in the Mojave desert where they reload their weapons, have a sip of water and take helicopters back to L.A. 
 
The final shot of the movie is helicopters flying over beverly hills and towards a ravaged L.A. skyline, ready to take the city back.
Battle: Los Angeles 74 images
Sidegrades: Battle: Los Angeles vs. Skyline

Two devastating alien attacks on Los Angeles 6 months apart?! Sounds like a Sidegrades!
Editor's Cut: Battle Los Angeles

The 2011 film Battle: Los Angeles as told entirely through clichés.

If You Like: Battle: LA

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Battle: Los Angeles Trailer 3

It's been, what, a week? We're way overdue for yet another Battle: Los Angeles trailer! The good news? This one is awesome!
Battle: Los Angeles Trailer 2

Here is the latest trailer for the 2011 alien invasion actioner Battle: Los Angeles. This one's a little less poetic than the last trailer, but a little more alien invasion-y.
Battle: Los Angeles Trailer

This sci-fi invasion flick stars Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez as soldiers fighting off waves of alien attackers right in the heart of the City of Angels.
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91 votes, 2.9 avg.

  • 3.7
General Information Edit
Name Battle: Los Angeles
US Release March 11, 2011
UK Release March 25, 2011
AUS Release
Runtime 116
Language(s)
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English
Genre(s)
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Action
Sci-Fi
Theme(s)
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alien
fantasy
Rating PG-13
Alias(es) Battle: LA
World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles
World Invasion: Battle LA
World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles
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  • In today's dollars
    Domestic $83,552,429
    Foreign +128,266,925
  • = total worldwide gross $211,819,354
  • - a reported budget of $70,000,000
  • = a 202.6% net profit of $141,819,354
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