BATTLE LOS ANGELES

US, 2011, 116 minutes. Colour.
Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Ramon Rodriguez, Cory Hardrict, Bridget Moynahan, Michael Pena.
Directed by Jonathan Liebesman

This is not a close encounter of the friendly kind.

Aliens have been targeting earth in the last few decades, and not with kind intentions. Think War of the Worlds, think Independence Day, think Monsters, think Skyline. In fact, this looks and sounds like a bigger and louder version of Skyline.

As the film opens, we are in mid-battle. The Marines are on the go, then on the run, as mysterious craft are attacking not only Los Angeles but a dozen key cities around the world. It is all go, rendered all the more vivid because of the camera techniques, hand-held, television reporting style, so that we, the audience, are right there in the melee. As a reminder of this, CNN broadcasts are glimpsed throughout the film.

But then we are taken back 24 hours and introduced to members of the marine squad we will be following, lots of names on screen, close-ups and detail – though many of us will find it difficult to remember who is who. We see glimpses of ordinary lives: a marine farewelling his pregnant wife, friends shopping for a wedding, some playing golf with rowdy sex chat... But, we are introduced to the important character, Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz who has finished tours of duty in Iraq (and lost some heroic men in action, which rankles others) and is about to leave active service where he trains the recruits. He is played with genial conviction by Aaron Eckhard getting his chance as a screen action hero (heroics described as ‘that John Wayne action shit’ – with the inevitable response from the juniors, ‘who the hell is John Wayne?’).

Like the old World War II films, like Platoon and Black Hawk Down, the action focuses on one small representative group, their mission, their team work, their rescuing civilians, their encounters with the enemy, suffering losses as well as outwitting the invaders. It is all done with the ‘Oo-ra’ enthusiasm and dedication of the American forces.

Speaking of the American forces and given the 21st century involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and troubled countries in the Arab world, the zest with which these young men give themselves and sacrifice themselves to ward off the attack and save the threatened, this film seems like something of a live recruitment poster, an appeal to macho gung-ho dedication and patriotism.

Interestingly, we don’t see any aliens for about 30 minutes. They are of the mechanical look variety, more than a touch of the robot. However, when the marines, with the help of a vet who is part of the rescued group (Bridget Moynahan), examine the physiology of the aliens, we realise they have muscular and organic intestines.

Some have complained that the action is repetitious and the hand-held camera work disconcerting. Maybe, but this is how this kind of action goes. It is slow, dangerous, people die, people use their wits, people are daring. Three of those rescued are children. There is a boy who loves his father who joins in the action which leads to tears and emotions all round.

Also joining the group is Michelle Rodriguez (seen lately as a pilot in Avatar) who has the info as to the control space ship (seemingly a replica of that in District 9). Fortunately, she and Nantz get the chance to use the information for a battle climax.

Easy to dismiss as another action show, but it can stand as a symbolic movie of popular American hawkish stances of our times.

1. 21st century war films? The United States and its experiences of war, Iraq, Afghanistan? The aliens and their attack as metaphor?

2. The literary and movie traditions of The War of the Worlds, the aliens trying to take over the world, its resources? Independence Day? The military hardware in Transformers? The alien spaceships in District 9? The range of aliens fiction?

3. The camerawork, the audience having the point of view of handheld camera, the war in close-up, action in close-up, focus on particular characters, situations, ingenuity?

4. Los Angeles the city, the visuals, the action, the destruction? Santa Monica and West LA? The detail, the precincts, the highways and overpasses, the buildings? The musical score?

5. The sense of realism, television footage, news action?

6. The title, the opening, the Marines in action, the invasion, the audience encountering the mystery of the aliens?

7. Reverting twenty-four hours, the importance of the range of names and faces, the difficulties of remembering the detail? The sense of realism, the Marine types, the range of ethnic backgrounds, the Marine getting married, at the shops, his buddy? The pregnant wife? Golf, sex talk? The Africans, Skyping Africa? Nantz and his career, his training the Marines, wanting to resign, the officer commanding and their talk? The (**OR WAS IT HIS?) prologue as a preparation for the battle? Especially with the Marines and their attitudes towards Nantz, his men dying in combat in Iraq?

8. The audience not seeing the aliens for the first half hour, the puzzle for the Americans, for the audience? The aliens and their appearance, the spaceships, the mechanical creatures, discovering the tissues, exploration of the tissues, how they could die? The gradual revelation of the aliens, their transformations, the machinery and the attacks, the ordinary foot soldiers, the spaceships, the control centre?

9. The realism of the treatment, the details of the battles, focusing on the one small platoon, their mission, working as a team, the rescue?

10. Nantz, his role, his experience, the deaths in Iraq, the reactions of the men? The references to John Wayne war activity? And the question who was John Wayne? His work with Martinez, Martinez giving the orders, Nantz supporting him? The civilians and their being trapped, the father and son, the vet, the children? The details of their escape, the father and his getting the gun, his being shot, the bond with his son, his son’s sadness, the man’s death? Santos and her arrival, her information about the control centre, her work? Her participating in the escape? The trek, Nantz and his getting the bus, the explosions and destroying the aliens? The trek in the bus, the dead end? Exploding the bus, the helicopter and its rescuing people and then exploding? The lowering of the children down the side of the expressway, the helicopter rescue, the issue of the control centre, Nantz and his deciding to go, the team going with him? The victory?

11. Martinez, his pregnant wife, his certainties and uncertainties in command? The relationship with Nantz? The men in action? His death for the sake of the others, the detonation? The other men, anti-Nantz, their murmurings, Nantz and his strong speech to them about what had happened?

12. Santos and her skills, her work, background, her collaboration with Nantz?

13. The aliens and their motivations, getting water from the Earth, the strategy and their executing it?

14. The film illustrating the spirit of contemporary Americans? The involvement in wars? The pictures of recruiting, heroism? The appeal to patriotism?