Battle: Los Angeles (Blu-ray) (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	Sci-Fi Action	Menu Animation & Audio Informational Subtitles-MovieIQ More…-BD Live Seamless Branching-Picture in Picture Featurette-Making Of-Lots
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	116:08
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Jonathan Liebesman
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Aaron Eckhart Ramon Rodriguez Will Rothhaar Cory Hardrict Jim Parrack Gino Anthony Pesi
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	$44.95	Music	Brian Tyler

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 5.1 French DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Spanish DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Catalan Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired French Spanish Arabic Catalan	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     Would you like to see a film which combines the 'Americans kick alien's butts' story of Independence Day, with the gritty war realism of Black Hawk Down and the documentary style of District 9? Well, if you answer yes, you have come to the right place because that is the best way I can describe this film.

     In this film, the earth has been invaded by unknown aliens who have not 'come in peace'. They land in what initially seem like asteroid showers near major cities around the world. The film focuses on their attack on Los Angeles, which is probably obvious considering that the film is called Battle : Los Angeles. This story is told from the viewpoint of a squad of marines sent into territory occupied by the aliens to rescue some civilians trapped in a police station. Despite the presence of an officer, their real leader is battle hardened Staff Sergeant Michael Nantz (Aaron Eckhart) who was in the process of retiring at the time of the attack. We get some back story about the squad, one expecting a child, one about to get married, one just joined the marines, etc. They have to work out how to combat the well armed and seemingly impregnable aliens who are backed by flying drones. Along the way they pick up a female air force intelligence Sergeant (Michelle Rodriguez) and a few civilians. They need to make it back to safety before saturation bombing of the area is due to commence.

     If you take this film as an attempt to create a realistic version of an unrealistic situation, and enjoy these sort of films, there is an entertaining and exciting film here. The acting is quite good, the stunts and effects are well done, the aliens are believable and the documentary shooting style adds to the drama. It is interesting to see Aaron Eckhart as the lead in this film because he is certainly not known as an action star. On the down side this film does tend to the clichéd in terms of the story line, especially things like the squad and their back story and the way they resolve the situation which has been seen many times before.

     In short, this film is a good rendition of an alien invasion action film which offers excitement, drama and quality stunts and effects.

Video

     The video quality is excellent, exactly what you would expect from a major release Blu-ray. The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 1080p as you would expect, encoded using AVC.

     The picture was very clear and sharp throughout. The colour was excellent with no issues to report. There were no obvious artefacts.

     There are subtitles available in English, English for the Hearing Impaired and other languages which are clear and easy to read.

     There are no obvious layer changes during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is very good. This disc contains an English soundtrack in DTS-HD MA 5.1 plus French and Spanish in the same format. There is also an English Audio Descriptive track in Dolby Digital 5.1 and a Catalan track in the same format.

     Dialogue was the only reason I felt this soundtrack didn't hit to usual heights of Blu-ray. Some lines of dialogue even those not in loud action scenes were a little indistinct and needed subtitles. This is usually not a problem on Blu-ray. The music by Brian Tyler is fairly generic heroic action music and doesn't stand out. The surround speakers were used very well indeed for the action sequences, gunfire, off screen voices and lots of atmospherics. The subwoofer was also put to excellent use for choppers, gunfire, explosions and the like.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     If you like featurettes you will find lots of them here. I believe the disc also contains a one-player demo of a related PS3 game, however, I cannot confirm this as I don't have a PS3.

Menu

     The menu is easy to use and features music and motion.

Movie IQ

     This feature gives internet enabled viewers the option to access details about a scene while the movie plays from an online database including things such as who the actors are and what the music is. Quite a good feature really.

BD-Live

     The disc enables access to the BD-Live internet portal where two movie specific extras are available for download.

Command & Control

     This is a picture-in-picture feature which allows access to various featurettes during the playing of the movie. The featurettes can also be played separately. They are

1. Staff Sergeant Nantz (3:11) - Character Profile including interviews with Cast & Crew
2. Marine Behind the Scenes (2:08) - Piece on the Military Advisers working on the film
3. Aliens Ambush the Marines (1:24) - Visual Effects featurette
4. Battling Unknown Forces (1:44) - Acting to green screen challenges
5. Technical Sergeant Santos (2:38) - Adding the Michelle Rodriguez Character
6. Alien Autopsy (2:29) - Props and designs used for Autopsy sequence
7. Gas Station Explosion (2:13) - Motion Capture and CGI used for scene
8. Visual FX on the Freeway (1:56) - How they did the scene on the freeway
9. Do You Believe in Aliens? (1:59) - Whether cats and crew believe in Aliens
10. Aliens Command & Control (3:41) - Designs for the Command Centre

Behind the Battle (6:44)

     A making of featurette focused on camera work and the challenges of shooting this film.

Directing the Battle (6:33)

     Featurette on the director, how he got involved and how he approached the film.

Aliens in LA (17:57)

     A bigger making of focused on makeup, design, story, shooting, actors, green screen use and other technicalities.

Preparing for Battle (5:14)

     Featurette on the physical preparation required by the actors and dong their own stunts, sometimes.

Boot Camp (10:18)

     Featurette on the Marine style boot camp the actors went on to prepare them to move and think like Marines including weapons, physical and tactical training.

Creating L.A. in LA (5:46)

     Featurette about they created the look of Los Angeles in Louisiana where the film was shot including strategic palm tree locating.

The Freeway Battle (5:18)

     Featurette on shooting the freeway battle which is one of the action centrepieces of the film including the location used, props, explosions, stunts and CGI.

    This set is available globally in the same format except for minor language and subtitle differences.

     A good but not great alien invasion action film which adds some gritty realism to the fighting.

     The video quality is excellent. The audio quality is very good. A large collection of featurettes are included, some forming part of a P-i-P function.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall