Screenwriters have finally stumbled upon the perfect revenge-fantasy-outlet for their Los Angeles angst. Just as aliens head to theaters today to devour the city in Skyline, here comes the teaser for Battle: Los Angeles, in which a presumably different group of aliens turn LA into a total war zone. These scenarios are probably comforting to imagine after the second hour stuck in traffic, waiting for some flaky producer to call back. Anyway, this is a great trailer; something like Black Hawk Down in Los Angeles...with aliens.
For a teaser, this preview seems to reveal quite a bit of the film, though the aliens remain obscured. At the same time, it's so stylized and self-contained (the images and music are married perfectly here), that it's hard to tell whether this is a great trailer for a great film, or simply a great trailer. The one moment where an alien begins to materialize out of thin air kind of kills the mood. On the other hand, it's hard to ignore the visceral impact of how convincingly director Jonathan Liebesman turns the West coast into a frantic battleground.
Aaron Eckhart and Michelle Rodriguez are in this somewhere, but with all of the explosions and army fatigues, I had to watch the trailer twice to pick them out.
VERDICT: I'm going to wait and see what Kim Kardashian thinks.
If the trailer gets pulled, head over to Apple.