‘They didn’t come in peace’
Battle of Los Angeles is a 2011 American science fiction action film and a mockbuster of the big-budget Battle: Los Angeles, which was inspired by the events of the farcical Great Los Angeles Air Raid of 1942.
Directed by Mark Atkins (Monster Island; 6-Headed Shark Attack; Planet of the Sharks; Sand Sharks; Princess of Mars). Produced by Paul Bales and David Michael Latt. Line produced by Christopher Ray [as Chris Olen Ray]. Executive produced by David Rimawi.
The Asylum production stars Nia Peeples, Kel Mitchell, Dylan Vox, Theresa June-Tao, Gerald Webb, Edward DeRuiter, Darin Cooper, Robert Pike Daniel and Tim Abell.
Reviews:
“This was pretty fun. It had its goof-tastic moments, which you expect from The Asylum; plus it had its tedious moments where I just want them to get on with it, which you also expect from The Asylum. This was a fortunate case where the former outweighed the latter. I also loved the Nia Peeples character.” Direct to Video Connoisseur
“Sometimes incomprehensible and often slow-moving despite the plethora of action set pieces, Battle of Los Angeles is not a good movie. No way. But it has an ancient hot chick fighting alien spaceships with a Samurai Sword […] Come on man, where else are you going to see something like that? That big budget movie didn’t have any of that.” Film Critics United
“Battle of Los Angeles is a cheap movie. It’s hard to say it even has a battle of LA because most of it is set on a base outside LA and when they finally enter LA it’s more of an industrial sandpit. But it keeps up the pace and never, which should be banned in these kinda movies, divulges itself in pretentiousness and pretending to have a message or have something important to say.” Ninja Dixon
” …you have to be in a pretty darned good mood to actually like Battle of Los Angeles. In fact, you’ll have to be in a positively deranged mood brought about by brain-destroying drugs to like Battle of Los Angeles. Its sheer storytelling ineptness, bad acting, shitty special effects and low budget will wear you down…” Sci-Fi Movie Page
“After the cool opening scene, the film devolves into the usual Asylum nonsense […] Still, no matter how often Battle of Los Angeles bogs down, the few good moments it does have (like the part where a guy gets his head chopped off and a flying saucer emerges from his face) far exceed anything in the film’s bigger-budgeted counterpart.” The Video Vacuum
Plot [contains spoilers]:
In February 1942, US armed forces defend Los Angeles from unidentified flying objects. Seventy years later, the alien invaders return to finish the attack.
In the near future, a large spaceship arrives and hovers over Los Angeles. A human fighter squadron is scrambled, but their missiles act erratically due to countermeasures being broadcast from the ship. The entire squadron is quickly destroyed, except for a female pilot named Lt. Solano, who ejects from her plane before it is destroyed.
Smaller alien craft suddenly attack a military base near Los Angeles. Marine Lt. Tyler Laughlin leads a group of survivors through the chaos following the attack, trying to find a safe haven. During their journey across the Los Angeles wasteland, Laughlin’s group finds a surprisingly young World War II pilot named Captain Pete Rodgers. He claims his squadron was abducted by aliens back in 1942 while they were flying in the Bermuda Triangle. Rodgers joins Laughlin’s group, as well as Lt. Solano.
Soon, the group encounters a sword-wielding special agent named Karla Smaith who takes them to a top-secret underground bunker. She reveals that a secret branch of the government has held an alien captive for the past 60 years after his spaceship crashed. Just then, Rodgers reveals himself to be an android. He kills most of the base personnel and reveals the alien’s plans for the colonization of Earth and the extermination of the human race.
After destroying Rodgers, Laughlin, Smaith and Solano escape using the captured alien’s spacecraft. They travel to the alien mothership over the city, where they plan to destroy it and stop the alien invasion.
Once onboard the mothership, they encounter a large mollusc-like alien guarding the engines. The alien grabs Solano, and Smith and Laughlin try to save her, but she orders them not to and leave her, in order to concentrate on destroying the ship with planted explosives. They escape just as the ship explodes, crashing down on Los Angeles. Smaith and Laughlin watch the destruction, knowing the rest of Earth is safe.
Release:
Battle of Los Angeles premiered on the Syfy channel on March 12, 2011. It was released on DVD on March 20, 2011.
Cast and characters:
Nia Peeples … Captain Karla Smaith
Kel Mitchell … Lt. Tyler Laughlin
Dylan Vox … Captain Pete Rodgers
Theresa June-Tao … Lt. Solano
Gerald Webb … Lt. Jeffery Newman
Edward DeRuiter … Captain Arnstead
Darin Cooper … Captain Hadron
Robert Pike Daniel … Cmdr. Wakes
Tim Abell … Col. Macon
Michele Boyd … Pilot #1 – Lt. Jean Hendricks
Stephen Blackehart … Pilot #2 – Lt. Kirkman
Lorry O’Toole … Pilot #3
Scot Nery … Kaor
Wayne Santoni … MJ12 Sentry #1
Natalia Fedner … MJ12 Sentry #2
Trailer:
Full film – free to watch online:
