Tremendous special effects and an off-the-peg plot combine to make Battle: LA more like a computer game than a movie. Mysterious aliens invade Los Angeles (and the rest of the world) and only a rogue band of US Marines can trounce them.
A war-weary Aaron Eckhart leads the lads and one gal, played by a bloodthirsty Michelle Rodriguez, as their clichéd backstories emerge. The Marines act as if they’re in a recruitment advert. Retreat? Hell, no.
The machinegun fire is almost non-stop: it’s rather like being trapped for two hours in a washing machine filled with rocks on the spin cycle. Boy heaven, obviously.
Jonathan Liebesman, 12A (117min)