The Battle is on..

Between Battle: LA, Soul Surfer, and Hanna! What are they competing for? Stars, of course! Whoa...three movies in one post? Yes..I went a tad crazy. But then I procrastinated...so here they are!

Battle: Los Angeles

Director- Jonathan Liebesman

Written by- Christopher Bertolini

Top Billed Cast- Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, & Bridget Moynahan

Basically, Aaron Eckhart is a Marine that has put in more than his time and has just gotten his retirement approved when, you guessed it, aliens attack. I took a lot of notes for this movie..again, amusing to read back over. Maybe one day, I'll just post the notes and let those speak for themselves.

Pros:

* The CGI-work was pretty darn good...for an alien movie, this is important.

* The scale. When I'm watching a movie, especially one with lots of fight scenes, I feel that often the choice to stay right on the main character is a poor one...the shots are so close you can hardly make heads or tails of what's going on. While this movie had some too-close-sequences, there were a LOT of really great open shots!

* All of the choreography that goes into these battle scenes is just so incredible. Everybody has to be on their toes and remember so much. The best is when it *looks* like chaos..but we all know that true chaos and a movie set don't really get along.

* They did a really good job with the set designs and the props; so much debris to keep track of.

* I really liked the way they designed the ships

* The use of alien goop was nice

* This movie made me jump..there are few that can do that to me (at least to this extent). Despite my feverish note taking, I got drawn in and I liked it.

Cons:

* While this movie had great scale, it was a tad too Blair Witch for my liking with the filming. I'm all for realism when the time calls for it but I am not all for motion sickness in a movie theater. A good balance is key.

* Little do you know walking in that you will have to remember like fifty-gazillion names! I made up my own for them. It worked for me.

* So..the aliens communicate. And they sound a lot like the aliens from Signs. Yes, aliens are way popular and I'm sure it's hard to be original but..come ON.

* Aaron Eckhart...I just felt that his character was left too harsh. I mean, he has a backstory and we know it hurts him but at some point during this whole thing, he should break. Or..at least show some sort of emotion.

* The power goes out. The tv works.

* This is an ALIEN movie. Most of the world is dying. And yet...as always, love abounds.

* I can't help but see Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent..curse the ONE superhero movie I watch for ruining this actor for me for life.

Now Mother..

This movie is rated PG-13. There are INTENSE battle sequences, frequent use of the Lord's name in vain, and a lot of alien guts. Viewer beware..

Overall, I liked this movie. I liked the pace and the intensity. Was it predictable? It's an alien movie...of course it's predictable. There was one line that I really liked, it sounds really cheesy and I'm aware of that but still, doesn't this just sound so profound coming from Aaron Eckhart's Harvey Dent growl?

"Discard any lingering doubt." 3.5/5 stars.