Battle Los Angeles

When invited to the movies this week, there was only one that fit into my schedule, Battle Los Angeles http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217613/  . I had planned on waiting until it was on DVD, but I was pleasantly surprised after all of the bad reviews it was getting. The story is simple yet compelling. In the beginning sequence, the viewer is shown the aliens landing in our oceans along the coastline of major cities around the world. San Diego and the San Francisco area has already fallen to the enemy. Then, the films flashes back 24 hours. You are introduced to Staff Sgt. Michael Nance, he is putting in his resignation from the Marines, effective when his last group of recruits is trained. Suddenly, all hell breaks loose and he is assigned to a platoon under the leadership of Lt. Martinez, a newly made Lt. fresh from officer school with no field experience. The platoon is sent to rescue civilians that are trapped inside a police station. They must make there way on foot through now enemy occupied Santa Monica. The platoons struggle to keep the civilians and themselves alive to reach the FOB, the Santa Monica Airport. Aaron Eckhart as Staff Sgt. Michael Nance brought depth and feeling to his role. Michelle Rodriguez, Lt. Ellen Santos, played against her normal bad girl who kicks ass type, and did a great job. This is an alien invasion movie shown from the Marines point of view not the civilians, like in Skyline. They are two completely different movies. Many people felt that they were copies of each other, but I disagree. I recommend this movie to sci-fi  and action fans. It was definitely worth the price of a ticket and popcorn.