Battle: Los Angeles

As of recent, the city of Los Angeles has suffered many cinematic deaths. It's been torn up by an Earthquake (twice), saw its citizens sucked up into the Skyline and there was a Volcano even. And now, a new film has come out that has Los Angeles in the cross-hairs again.

In the aptly named Battle: Los Angeles, the titular city is one of many visited by some aliens. These aliens don't come in peace; the minute they start landing, that's when their missile launchers start flying. They want Earth's water, as it turns out, and they've brought out the big guns to get it.

But what about the humans? On the human side is St. Sgt. Nantz (Aaron Eckhardt), called out of retirement when the aliens land. It's up to his unit, led by his new commanding officer Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez), to evacuate what's left of Santa Monica before the Air Force carpet-bombs it. And that's about it for the story.

It wastes no time to get to the action scenes. Within twenty minutes, perhaps less, the aliens are already on the ground making a mess of things. For the rest of the 116 minute runtime, bullets and bombs fly around. What's amazing is that I got so into it all that it felt shorter than that.

What helped the film out the most was not the actors, but the visual effects. From spaceships flying the skies to its shots of wrecked L.A., the film's effects made the fight scenes as intense as they are. On it's $70 million budget, that's quite an accomplishment for an early summer blockbuster.

This time, Los Angeles has won the Battle, but the War, probably not? But then again, it'll certainly win over its target audience, and that's all that matters.