[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by Sure-Oz

Im hoping to see some decent reviews of battle LA

My inside source says it's fantastic.

Enjoyed the hell out of it. Expendables it was not. The story focused entirely on the platoon being led by Eckhart's character. For an action movie it was indeed pretty heavy. The characterization was good: the first 10-15 minutes was spent setting the tone with the characters (one in particular was really hard for me, if you know me at all you'll recognize it when you see it). You got a feel for a lot of the individual Marines. AK will back me up on it when he sees it: it gets a loooot of little details of Marines correct: bickering over the best MRE, busting each other's chops over stupid shit, etc. It all makes a very effective introduction; you get invested in the characters more than usual for squad-of-Marines action movies.

Cinematography was good. There was some handicam stuff in the action-heavy scenes, but it wasn't a Michael Bay flick by any stretch. It really was used to pretty decent effect, cut in amongst plenty of more stable close-in shots and wider-angle shots that kept good perspective on the whole scene.

All the military folks here are gonna find themselves suppressing the urge to scream "JUST CALL IT A FOB" at the screen about a dozen times; for some reason, they kept spelling it out. But it gets balanced out by the realistic portrayal of the Marines and a great "who gave the Lt a map" moment. The characters take the serious things seriously. Eckhart does a great job.

Anyway that's my take: definitely enjoyed it, great action movie, recommend.

Few further thoughts: I can't emphasize enough, the movie is about the platoon of Marines. There's no presidential speeches, though there is some broad perspective on the invasion in the form of CNN clips scattered throughout. It keeps things feeling menacing; you know little more than the Marines themselves most of the time.

It's an action movie first and foremost. Missiles and bullets flying everywhere. Bodies and blown up cars. The city is destroyed. The handicam use really plays into the immersion, but is not so prevalent as to leave you wondering what just happened at any point.