I first heard about Battle: Los Angeles last year while attending Comic Con in San Diego. As you can imagine, there were quite a few projects being hyped that weekend and, honestly, I didn’t pay too much attention to this particular film. Why? Because, when it comes to projects that feature our military, I’ve been let down too many times before. My first reaction is typically, “Here we go again.”
As the trailers started to circulate the web, I begrudgingly admitted they looked pretty cool. My geek streak is certainly wide enough to get down with some old-fashioned alien invasion stuff and I realized that the movie would feature my beloved Marine Corps, OSR (Ooh-Stinkin’-Rah). However, my distrust still prevented me from getting excited about it.
As the release date neared, I was torn. Do I go see the movie, take my licks and try to enjoy the action aspect of it or do I give it a pass? I decided on the latter. I was not going to pay good money to go watch my brothers and sisters get crapped on again.
Then, last week I read an article in which Aaron Eckhart talked about the film:
“This movie, in my opinion, is meant to be a love letter to the Marines. We had their full cooperation. They had my full cooperation. I tried to get it right. I think this movie is very reverent towards the military and reverent towards the ranks, both the officers and the Marines and the grunts. I don’t see how any Marine can see this movie and feel like they’ve been at all taken advantage of. I think this is going to be an oo-rah moment for them.”
Now, look. It’s not like I’ve never been lied to by someone trying to get butts into seats but this struck me as a quote that would be pretty doggone hard for Mr. Eckhart to walk back. So, I decided to take the man’s word for it and plunk down my money for a few tickets.
Aaron Eckhart is no liar.
Battle: Los Angeles is a kick ass war picture! Eckhart’s turn as SSgt Nantz was impressive and the rest of the cast was very good as well. Tons of action, some particularly tense moments and some tender ones as well. And get this… the Los Angeles audience cheered at the end. I haven’t seen that in this jaded town in quite a while. My wife, her father and I left the theater exhausted.
Now, I’ll leave the critiques of the finer points of filmmaking to those who do it (I’m looking at you, Leigh Scott). My mission today is to set your mind at ease and get your butts into seats. No sucker punches in this one, kids.
Eckhart called it a “love letter”. Marines, prepare to be wooed.
Semper fi.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.