Battle: Los Angeles – A Love Story

Last week, Rebecca Cusey wondered if the real American military would like the new action flick, Battle: Los Angeles. So, we asked one Iraq war vet what he thought of the movie!

Battle: Los Angeles, the most popular movie in America right now, is not a love story.  In fact, it might be the most accurately named movie in the history of film.  It’s about a battle for Los Angeles – no more, no less.  It just might contain the least back story of any video production this side of a cereal commercial.  The movie begins with helicopters flying into battle, it ends with helicopters flying into battle, and there’s a really big battle in between… complete with lots of helicopters.

And I’m in love with it.  I’ve called my friends to demand that they see it, I’ve forwarded the trailer to my colleagues at work, and I’ve told anyone who’s skeptical of the film’s merit  that they need to decide: they’re either with the Marines fighting to save L.A. or the hideous aliens trying to destroy it.

Why do I love it so?  I’d be tempted to respond: “It’s Black Hawk Down meets Independence Day” and defy anyone to come up with a better premise.  However, not everyone shares my refined cinematic tastes.  So Battle L.A., how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways.

1. You get the soldiers right.  Oops, I mean you get the Marines right.  Since I came back from Iraq, I’ve been waiting for a movie that re-connects American movie-goers with American warriors.  It’s a shame that it took an alien invasion movie to get it done.  Though there are obviously some stylized exaggerations, I saw those young Marines on the screen (and their grizzled Staff Sergeant) and felt like I was watching the Troopers I served with in Diyala Province.  They weren’t idealized (there was fear, resentment, occasional panic, and real pain), but their flaws paled in comparison to their courage.  The movie made me miss the guys in 2d Squadron, 3d Armored Cavalry Regiment, and it reminded me of young Americans at their best. 
2. You get the action right.  Of course, it’s a movie, not a documentary, and we’ve never actually engaged in combat against slimy aliens.  But doggone it, if the aliens ever did land in Hollywood, that’s how we’d fight!  You feel the fear, the confusion, and the fog of war (in one scene, quite literally).  You get your information in bits and pieces, your situational awareness is limited, and you never know who, if anyone, is going to make it to the next scene.
3. You love America.  Oh yes, the audience can feel the love.  The national anthem isn’t playing in the background, and no one gives a patriotic speech, but there’s a refreshing lack of cynicism.  Perhaps it’s sad that a cynicism-free defense of our country is all it takes for me to feel refreshed and inspired, but ours is a cynical age. (Heck, we’ve been in a cynical age for, well, ages.)
4. You make the aliens suitably nasty.  Good stories have good villains, and it’s tough to get much nastier than dropping into the ocean and emerging guns blazing.  However, they’re not too alien. That means they use weapons like ours, can be killed (no silly shields or ridiculous warp drive here), and have a discernible military strategy.  Their technology is better, they’re ruthless, but if you cut them?  They do bleed.  

Battle: Los Angeles, your aims are modest.  You’re not trying to change lives, to get us to rethink alien/human relations, to make us question our obsession with war and violence.  Instead, you’re aiming to make a buck or two, tell a good story, and give a shout-out to the guys (and gals) in uniform.  Well, you hit your mark, and maybe a little bit more.  Really, a lot more.  I took my 10 year-old son to the movie (his first in-theater PG-13 experience), and now he’s talking about the Marine Corps.

I’ll let him see it again, but first I’ll sing him the Army Song.