Battle for Los Angeles

Actors:  Aaron Eckhart, Michelle Rodriguez, Michael Pena, Bridget Moynihan, Ramon Rodriguez, Jim Parrack, Corey Hardict

Rating:  9 out of 10, a movie that finally gets the dynamics of a small infantry unit right and strangely enough does it in an alien invasion movie.  I was leery of this movie after Skyline, which was an unmitigated disaster of a movie from the prior year with basically the same plot.  I could not have been more pleased to be wrong.  As with all good science fiction the focus here is on the people and their story with the science fiction providing the backdrop.  Eckhart does a fabulous job capturing the importance and role of the non-commissioned officer in the US military.  The NCO is the backbone and real strength of the US military and they get it right here without turning his character into a caricature.  Rodriguez once again plays the plucky female military type - does she do anything else?  The movie starts out a little slow but once the battle starts it's hold onto to your seat excitement.  I did have some problems with the scenarios like over flying an active impact area with helicopters and then sending a ground unit to extract civilians by helicopter - why not send the helicopter in first?  These are minor issues and the struggle against the overwhelming alien force is epic in dimension without going over the top.  I also liked that these aliens, while possessed of a significant technology advantage were not invulnerable and had to deal with their own problems.  I left the movie thinking this is how many of the infantry units I was blessed to serve with would have performed; especially the last scene where the battle scarred survivors head back into the fight.  Great movie.

MVP:  Eckhart as Tech Sergeant Nance embodying all that is good about the NCO