The American cinema has seen its fair share of extraterrestrial films ranging from the peaceful alien encounters of E.T. to the hostile colonization of planet earth presented in War of the Worlds, District 9, and countless others, however the topic of an alien race attempting to colonize earth in my opinion had been severely lacking in presenting a movie of substantial quality. Or at least until the release of Battle Los Angeles, Battle Los Angeles is one of the most believable alien invasion movies through their usage of real world elements and scenarios as well as an ambience of verisimilitude created by awe-inspiring footage.

The premise of the movie uses a superior race of E.T.’s (extraterrestrials) who are attempting to colonize the planet earth for its rare occurrence of liquid water in the universe. Through the use of incredible computer generated images, the life like appearance of the invaders rivals that of James Cameron’s Avatar. As soon as you see the aliens you are spell bound until the movies conclusion, as the creatures look so real, and the pure fear the E.T.’s cause in the characters is readily absorbed by the viewer enhancing their cinematic journey.

Through brilliantly choreographed battle scenes, the verisimilitude created by the believable situations and military responses to situations, the viewer is captivated and plunged into the world of terror, war, and death.

Jonathan Liebesman leaves us with the breath taking photography of the ruined city of L.A. in flames and destroyed, but with a glimmer of hope as a task force is being sent in “to take back this city!”