Writer: Michael Miller (Screenplay)
Starring: Jesse Richardson, Ellen Williams, Michael Thomson, James Storer, Leigh Walker, Darrell Plumridge
Plot: After a war against an enemy from another world breaks out in the South Pacific, a group of freshly recruited U.S. Marines are sent to the front lines.
Tagline – Our world is at war.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Simple Sci-Fi
Story: Battalion starts as we learn the world has been a war for 7 months as we follow John Blake (Richardson), Tracey Gleeson (Williams) and Chris Jackson (Thomson) whose normal lives were shattered with the outbreak of the war, but now they fight back together.
After suffering casualties in the first retaliation mission against the machines from another world, Blake must continue the battle with Tracey by his side, but will Jackson step back up next to his brother to try and save humanity.
Thoughts on Battalion
Characters – John Blake grew up with Jackson in LA, close enough to being brothers who joins up to the military after the attack that kills their family. Trained under Jackson it isn’t long before he is the one stepping in the battle. Tracey Gleeson is a college professor that decides to join up after the attack, follow Black into battle she must show the fight that she had been struggling to find in life.
Performances – The three leads in the movie are good for what they are meant to be, we have the reluctant hero, the soldier whose lost faith and the one looking for direction and they work this well through the film.
Story – The story follows a group of soldiers, a battalion if you like that come from different backgrounds to fight alien invaders that are wiping out the population of the world. We do jump around the timeline here seeing before and after the opening sequence, which at times can be hard to keep up with, but once you think you can piece it together. It plays out like you would imagine for the most part, but it is the story side of things you have come to know anyway.
Sci-Fi – Aliens invading Earth, you don’t get that much more sci-fi than this.
Settings – The settings show us how the big city get wiped out and how the battles can take place in a quieter location of the islands in the oceans.
Special Effects – The effects are not the strength of this film, everything looks like a video game, but for me that seem to add to the fun of the film.
Scene of the Movie – Final moment.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Keeping up on the timeline.
Final Thoughts – This is a solid low budget sci-fi that shows another vision of how an alien attack could become deadly for the human race.
Overall: Enjoyable without being ground-breaking.
Rating