It’s wrong to pass judgment on a film simply from the trailer or who is starring in the film. My first thoughts when watching the trailer for Battle: Los Angeles, which will be released next March, was that it was beautifully paced and chock full of suspense while showing its big-budget muscles with a lot of special effects. Then I saw one of its stars.Aaron Eckhart. Battle: Los Angeles is about a Marine platoon battling an alien invasion in Los Angeles (but also appears to be global). Eckhart is an actor who brings a great degree of name recognition and respect from his previous roles — especially fan boys of his work on The Dark Knight who’d be interested in an alien flick. But one of his co-stars, Michelle Rodriguez, seems to be typecast as the “I’m sexy and tough but one of the guys” female roles, and it makes one question whether she can carry a whole picture.
The an artistic, well-done trailer such as what was recently released for Battle: Los Angeles makes you wonder whether this is going to be your run-of-the-mill alien invasion movie or something much deeper. The abstract movie posters showing what looking like old-timey war photos are also a nice touch. But it also makes me think of Cloverfield, which had a clever marketing campaign yet turned out to be a disaster of a film.