Battle: Los Angeles
Battle: Los Angeles | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jonathan Liebesman |
Written by | Chris Bertolini |
Produced by |
|
Starring | |
Cinematography | Lukas Ettlin |
Edited by | Christian Wagner |
Music by | Brian Tyler |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | Sony Pictures Releasing |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 116 minutes[1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $70–77 million[2] |
Box office | $212 million[3] |
Battle: Los Angeles (also known as Battle: LA, stylised as Battle Los Angeles in the opening sequence and internationally as World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles) is a 2011 American
The film was a co-production of
Principal photography began in September 2009, and the film was released in the United States on March 11, 2011. It grossed $211 million worldwide against a production budget of around $70 million, and received generally negative reviews from critics. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 14, 2011.
Plot
On August 12, 2011,
Under the command of 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez, the platoon arrives at a
The Marines commandeer an abandoned
The planned carpet bombing fails to materialize. Reaching the FOB, the Marines find it destroyed and the military in retreat from the city. The Marines plan to escort the civilians to an alternate extraction point. When Joe dies from his wounds, Nantz comforts Hector. Lockett confronts Nantz regarding his brother, a Marine who, with four others, was killed during Nantz's last tour. They come to peace when Nantz explains that he continues to think of them and recites each one's name, rank, and serial number. Nantz motivates the group to move forward to honor their fallen comrades, including Joe, for his bravery. They reach the extraction point and evacuate by helicopter.
In flight, the chopper experiences a brief loss of power. Nantz theorizes that they are flying near the alien command center, transmitting intense radio messages to its drones. He orders his unit to accompany the civilians while he stays to reconnoiter the area, but his soldiers join him. Searching through sewers, they confirm the presence of a large alien vessel. Kerns radios in to request missiles, which Nantz manually directs using a laser designator while the others defend his position. Kerns is killed when a drone homes in on his radio, but the Marines succeed in guiding a missile to the command module, which is destroyed. The uncontrolled drones fall from the sky, and the alien ground forces retreat.
The remaining soldiers—Nantz, Imlay, Lockett, Harris, Adukwu, and Santos—are evacuated to a base in the Mojave Desert, where they are greeted as heroes. They are told that their successful plan has been transmitted to the militaries battling alien forces in 19 other cities, that Michele and the three children were rescued, and that they can now rest. Instead, they re-arm and depart to retake Los Angeles.
Cast
- Aaron Eckhart as United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz
- Michelle Rodriguez as United States Air Force Technical Sergeant Elena Santos, 1st Force, 61 Air Base Wing
- Ne-Yo as United States Marine Corps Corporal Kevin J. "Specks" Harris
- Bridget Moynahan as Michele
- Michael Peña as Joe Rincon
- Cory Hardrict as United States Marine Corps Corporal Jason "Cochise" Lockett
- Jim Parrack as United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Peter J. "Irish" Kerns
- Gino Anthony Pesi as United States Marine Corps Corporal Nick C. "Stavs" Stavrou
- Lucas Till as United States Marine Corps Corporal Scott Grayston
- 2nd LieutenantWilliam Martinez, 1st Platoon
- Noel Fisher as United States Marine Corps Private First ClassShaun "Casper" Lenihan
- Hospital Corpsman Second ClassJibril A. "Doc" Adukwu
- Will Rothhaar as United States Marine Corps Corporal Lee "Cowboy" Imlay
- Neil Brown Jr. as United States Marine Corps Corporal Richard "Motown" Guerrero
- Taylor Handley as United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Corey Simmons
- James Hiroyuki Liao as United States Marine Corps Lance Corporal Steven "Motorolla" Mottola
- Joey King as Kristen
- Bryce Cass as Hector Rincon
- Jadin Gould as Amy
Production
Development
Themes and analysis
The film's story was partly inspired by the
This real incident was used as the main focus of an early teaser trailer to promote the film, in which it is strongly implied the alien invaders spent decades planning their attack and invasion.[13] The filmmakers drew upon this historical event in an attempt to help ground the film in reality.[14] Aaron Eckhart said that the objective of the film was to make as realistic an alien invasion movie as possible; "The goal was: this is a war movie, a documentary-style war movie—with aliens in it."[15] The film, however, was not the first motion picture to touch upon the events surrounding the tale of the Pacific air raids. In 1979, the comedy drama film 1941 directed by Steven Spielberg, alluded to the 1942 shelling as well as other surprise military engagements.[16] On March 12, 2011, a day after the official release for Battle: Los Angeles, a mockbuster produced by the independent film company The Asylum, entitled Battle of Los Angeles, premiered on the Syfy cable TV channel in the United States.
Filming
Filming took place from September 2009 through December 2009 in
There was military support for filming. Numerous Marine units assisted in filming, including infantry from
Visual effects
While Liebesman tried to use
Controversy
Sony investigated the possibility of legal action against the filmmakers Greg and Colin Strause, who were hired to do visual effects work on Battle: Los Angeles through their special effects company Hydraulx. Sony suspected the Strause brothers had created their own Los Angeles–based alien invasion film Skyline, which would compete with the Battle: Los Angeles release, by using resources they had gained while working on the film without the consent of Sony Pictures.[22] A spokesman for the Strauses responded by saying, "Any claims of impropriety are completely baseless. This is a blatant attempt by Sony to force these independent filmmakers to move a release date that has long been set by Universal and Relativity and is outside the filmmakers' control."[23] Sony initiated arbitration against Hydraulx and the Strause brothers, but later dismissed the arbitration.[24]
Music and soundtrack
The score was composed and conducted by
Release
Premiere and theatrical release
The film had its world premiere in the United States on March 11, 2011. The next day, on March 12, it premiered in the Asia Pacific region in Taiwan. Other European markets in Germany and Denmark had the film premiering on April 14.[27] The film made its debut in Sweden on April 20 and Switzerland on April 22. It went into general theatrical release in Latin America in Argentina on March 10.[27] Certain Middle Eastern markets; the United Arab Emirates and Lebanon saw the premiere of the film on March 10, while in South Africa it screened later in the month on March 25.
Video game
A first-person shooter video game developed by Saber Interactive subsidiary Live Action Studios and published by Konami was released for Steam and Xbox Live Arcade on March 11, 2011, and for the PlayStation Network on March 22.[28] The OnLive game service (as part of its Playpack subscription service) was made available to subscribers on March 15. Eckhart reprised his role for the game.[citation needed] Players assume the role of Corporal Lee Imlay throughout the game.
Home media
Battle: Los Angeles was released on home media on June 14, 2011, by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Following its cinematic release in theaters, the Region 1 Code widescreen edition of the film was released on DVD by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in the United States on June 14, 2011. Special features for the DVD include; Behind The Battle, Building the Aliens, Acting with Aliens, Shooting the Aliens, Preparing for Battle, and Creating L.A. in LA.[29] Additionally, a combo two-disc Blu-ray Disc/DVD was also released on June 14, 2011. Special features for the DVD/Blu-ray Disc pack include, in addition to those present on the DVD release, a PlayStation 3 theme, The Freeway Battle, Command Control, Staff Sergeant Nantz, Marine Behind The Scenes, Aliens Ambush The Marines, Battling Unknown Forces, Technical Sergeant Santos, Alien Autopsy, Gas Station Explosion, Visual FX on the Freeway, Do You Believe in Aliens?, and Alien Command & Control.[29]
Concurrently, the widescreen hi-definition
Battle: Los Angeles is one of the first titles to be re-mastered in the ultra-high resolution format 4K.[31]
Reception
Critical response
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating of 37% based on 212 reviews, with an average rating of 4.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Overlong and overly burdened with war movie clichés, Battle: Los Angeles will entertain only the most ardent action junkies."[32] Review aggregator Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on 35 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[33]
Noted film critic Roger Ebert panned Battle: Los Angeles in a lengthy review, calling the movie "noisy, violent, ugly and stupid", giving the film a mere half star rating. Though he praised Aaron Eckhart's performance, Ebert heavily criticized the film's writing, effects designs, camerawork and editing. He closed his review by saying, "When I think of the elegant construction of something like Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, I want to rend the hair from my head and weep bitter tears of despair. Generations of filmmakers devoted their lives to perfecting techniques that a director like Jonathan Liebesman is either ignorant of, or indifferent to. Yet he is given millions of dollars to produce this assault on the attention span of a generation."[34] Anthony Lane of The New Yorker gave the film a better review only by comparing it to films that were worse, stating: "Battle: Los Angeles is a lot more fun than bludgeoning, soul-draining follies like Terminator Salvation or the Transformers films."[35]
Battle: Los Angeles was largely given poor reviews by the
Neil Smith of
Accolades
Battle: Los Angeles received an award nomination for actor Peña in the category of Favorite Movie Actor, along with a nomination for Rodriguez for Favorite Movie Actress from the
Box office
Battle: Los Angeles debuted on March 11, 2011, in the United States screening at 3,417 theaters. It grossed $13,399,310 on its opening day, which was the best opening-day gross for 2011 until the record was surpassed by
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2011 | ALMA Award | Favorite Movie Actress - Drama/Adventure | Michelle Rodriguez | Nominated |
2011 | ALMA Award | Favorite Movie Actor | Michael Peña | Nominated |
2011 | BMI TV Music Award |
Brian Tyler | Won | |
2011 | Rondo Statuette | Best Film | Jonathan Liebesman | Nominated |
2012 | CinEuphoria Award | Best Special Effects (Sound or Visual) - International Competition | Battle: Los Angeles | Nominated |
References
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