History Film / BattleLosAngeles

[[caption-width-right:299:''[[Tagline It's not war. It's survival.]]'']]

* DeathBySex: {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d as Lenihan is stated to be a virgin. After he survives a firefight his squadmates remark: "I told you, until we get him some tail, he ain't never gonna die!" [[spoiler:And then averted; he dies on the evac helo.]]

''Battle: Los Angeles'' is a science fiction film directed by Jonathan Liebesman. It was released March 11, 2011.

* AlienAutopsy: Inverted. They're cutting the alien open, but it's still alive, and they want to know what kills it ''quickly''.

* RecycledINSPACE: It's ''Film/BlackHawkDown''... with ALIENS!

* HopeSpot: In the middle of the highway battle, Lockett takes control of a .50 caliber machinegun in an abandoned Humvee and uses that to blow up the alien troops on the upper highway that have been shooting up the rest of the platoon. Enemy fire drops off, and the Marines start cheering. Then the WalkingTank shows up.

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Marines use an LAV-25 to get from the Santa Monica Airport to the extraction point. Though the .50 cal is used, we sadly don't get to see it's Bushmaster chain gun in action.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The sequence where Nantz [[spoiler:stabs, cuts, and tears at a still-living alien to figure out where to hit it to kill it, all while it weakly writhes in obvious agony]]. Unlike most such scenes, there's no accompanying moral commentary on the action; the viewer is left to decide themselves between whether or not Nantz's are cruel or justified. It's an interesting case, given that [[spoiler:Nantz actually is not trying to torture it, but rather trying to learn how to kill the alien efficiently; it just takes him a while to figure exactly out how to do that, as the aliens' anatomy is unlike anything ever seen on Earth]].

** The film portrays laser target designators as emitting a visible beam of light, which is not accurate, as they use coded infrared beams to specifically avoid being spotted with the naked eye, only letting the observer know that the laser is on by displaying an icon in the viewfinder. This would have prevented SSgt Nantz from aiming it as he does, simply holding the device at hip level and hip firing it.

* AwesomePersonnelCarrier: The Marines use an LAV to get from the Santa Monica Airport to the extraction point. Though the .50 cal is used, we sadly don't get to see the Bushmaster in action.

* HeroWithBadPublicity: Nantz has a very bad reputation after his tour in Iraq. Even though his orders and actions throughout the invasion are mostly sound the marines all seem to hate his guts. It's only at the climax after his RousingSpeech that the team finally comes together and trusts his leadership.

* TheSquadette: Santos is a tough female Marine who fits in perfectly with her male comrades. There are no other female armed services personnel seen serving in direct combat roles.

* TheSquadette: Santos is a tough female Marine who fits in perfectly with her male comrades. There are no other female armed services personnel seen.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/battle_los_angeles.jpg]]

* BloodKnight: Kerns is eager to get back into combat, though it’s clear that he has PTSD.

* DeathFromAbove: The USAF's original plan to stop the invasion; keep the aliens contained on the Santa Monica shoreline and carpet bomb them. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, and the air strike never happens. Whether the B-52s were shot down or if the Air Force chose not to risk them in the face of the aliens’ air superiority is momentarily speculated upon.]]

* EnsignNewbie: Second Lieutenant Martinez has just graduated from Officer Training, but is a smart leader who has his platoon’s respect. In his first engagement he freezes up, unable to act, and when the casevac helicopter is shot down he goes into a HeroicBSOD. It isn't until Nantz, who has no shortage of combat experience, delivers a sharp, confidence-boosting lecture to him away from the others that he shapes up. By the time of the highway battle, he's confidently giving orders and deploying his men.

* EyeScream: Guerrero is blinded after being blasted in the face by one of the aliens’ guns.

* HeroicBSOD: A couple of the Marines, particularly LT Martinez, have these when the aliens bring their drones into the fray. [[TheChainsOfCommanding Martinez’s is compounded by his feeling of having failed his men]], though a private pep talk from [[SergeantRock Nantz]] snaps him out of it.

** [[spoiler:Hector's father]] takes a bullet to the gut after picking up [[spoiler: Motorola’s]] M16 to kill an alien trying to surprise the Marines rappelling down a child to safety.
* HiddenDepths: Lenihan comes off as a fresh-faced rookie, but he’s an expert marksman and is the first to injure an alien.

* HoverTank: One makes a brief appearance in the end before getting blown up. Since it appears to mount only antipersonnel weapons, it’s probably more of a Hover Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

* KeystoneArmy: The alien drone ships [[spoiler: are all controlled by a single Command and Control Center. Once Nantz and his surviving squad take it out with guided cruise missiles, all of the drones shut down and fall from the sky, giving the Americans control of the air once again, and presumably reducing the invaders’ ability to coordinate ground forces as well.]]

* TheMedic: Doc, [[InsistentTerminology though he’s quick to specify he is not a medic, but a Navy corpsman.]]

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: The sequence where Nantz [[spoiler:stabs, cuts, and tears at a still-living alien to figure out where to hit it to kill it, all while it weakly writhes in obvious agony]]. Unlike most such scenes, there's no accompanying moral commentary on the action; the viewer is left to decide themselves between whether or not Nantz's are cruel or justified. It's an interesting case, given that [[spoiler:Nantz actually is not trying to torture it, but rather trying to learn how to kill the alien efficiently; it just takes him a while to figure exactly out how to do that, as the aliens’ anatomy is unlike anything ever seen on Earth]].

* SacrificialLion: [[spoiler:Lenihan]], [[spoiler:Simmons]], and [[spoiler:Guerrero]], all of whom are prominent in the first act, are killed when the evac helicopter is shot down to establish that A) the aliens ''do'' have air support, taking away one of humanity’s biggest advantages, and B), AnyoneCanDie.

* GenericDoomsdayAlien:The aliens are a weirdly organized example, and they clearly show the ability to act as individuals and even have empathy for each other. It's stated that they want our water, but that's about it.

* NotSoDifferent:
** Discussed in-universe when some Marines spot an alien commander spotting for two alien snipers on top of a roof. One surmises they may be just like them -- grunts with families and a home, told to fight with no real idea why they're fighting.
** Displayed as well -- several scenes show downed enemy aliens being dragged away back into cover by their squadmates, with the others providing covering fire. Just like what human soldiers do. The directors made it a big deal that the aliens used human tactics.
** A subtle case of this pops up when the scientist discusses how the aliens are using "colonization" tactics on humanity. Though not outright stated, there's an implication that we know the aliens are using colonization tactics because mankind used them too.
** A somewhat more chilling example, but during the first ambush by the aliens, one of the downed Marines gets dragged off alive and screaming by the aliens. Later in the film, they come across an alien badly hurt, but still alive, and decide (with good reason) they need to know what their anatomy and weaknesses are, so they begin slicing into it and cutting it apart until it dies. The implication is that the aliens were doing ''exactly'' the same thing with humans.

* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: Nantz delivers a powerful one to the remaining Marines under his command when they begin to doubt whether he cares about their safety and survival.