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SaMo Cries Foul, Claims "Battle: Los Angeles" Is All About Them
Were you one of the many who plunked down a wad of cash this weekend to see Los Angeles decimated by aliens in a blockbuster "Battle" royale in our fair city? And were you one of however many who thought: "Hey! For a movie about Los Angeles, this mostly takes place in Santa Monica!" One writer at The Lookout was one of those folks, and today he battles "Battle" in a post that calls the flick "false advertising."
Here's what's in Santa Monica that is passed off as Los Angeles, per The Lookout:
-Aliens rise from the Pacific...at Santa Monica's shore and "cue the cute reporter with the Santa Monica Pier’s ferris wheel behind her."
-The "theater of war" plays out largely in a place that's "obviously downtown Santa Monica."
-Whattup, Google Maps? "'We’ve got a defensive line at Lincoln Boulevard,' barks one military commando. He directs various soldiers to cover Santa Monica Boulevard to Olympic, Olympic to Pico, Pico to Venice, and so on."
-Santa Monica Airport = the Forward Operating Base
-The "alien hell" that is Santa Monica's 10th street is less favorable than Afghanistan, per one actor-soldier.
-Landmark and local color check: "Along the way, Louise’s Trattoria on Montana and 10th, a few fictitious businesses, and that familiar panda-bear mural pop up amid the carnage as downtown Santa Monica eats it."
The Lookout also has a lengthy list of TV and film bruises to Santa Monica's ego, but none seem quite so dire as the misnomer that is "Battle: Los Angeles," aka the "Santa Monica-specific alien invasion spectacle."
USA Today pointed out SaMo's squashed standing in for the generic "L.A." (hey, maybe they meant "Battle: Los Angeles County") last week when the film was released, which seems to that reviewer of lesser importance than the fact that the film kinda sorta sucks:
Perhaps filmmakers feared paying customers don't give a hoot about the town. No matter. Battle could have burned through Santa Monica, Los Angeles or Rancho Cucamonga. The movie still would buckle from cardboard protagonists and a script that echoes a Marine recruitment video.
What's in a name? They could have called it "Battle: LA" since, well, the movie was partly shot in...Louisiana. Oh, Hollywood! Santa Monica! Los Ang--nevermind.
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