[Retsof]

Why isn't there a topic for this yet?  I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.  Much, much, better than Skyline.  I think what made it good was that it was less a pure sci-fi movie, and more a war movie that happened to have aliens.  Said aliens were more realistic than most, they still used projectiles, and were not immune to bullets themselves.  They also used reasonable tactics, as did the humans.  The only wall banger for me was their reason for invading, but then again any society with the capability to travel the stars should not need anything of ours anyway.  All in all I found it a movie that I might even see again in theaters.

[mxlm]

Whereas I found that even by the standards of dumb action movies it was an utter failure--it's boring and talky and the talky bits aren't even slightly interesting. Evaluated as the SRSBSNS film it so desperately wants to be, it's, uh, worse.

[Ravenholme]

Whereas I found that even by the standards of dumb action movies it was an utter failure--it's boring and talky and the talky bits aren't even slightly interesting. Evaluated as the SRSBSNS film it so desperately wants to be, it's, uh, worse.

My opinion was: Blackhawk Down with Aliens.

This is what I expected, I was not disappointed. Overall, I enjoyed it.

[redsniper]

The only improvement I would have made was to cut out the backstory and interpersonal drama bits. Like, cut straight from the helicopter ride to them shooting ****, and then have that for the next two hours. But that's just me...

[watsisname]

Ehh, was not worth the admission price for me.  I went in expecting lots of cool CGI 'splosions with a **** story.  What I got was lots of cool CGI 'splosions with a decent story, which I would have been okay with if it hadn't been covered with a steaming pile of fecal matter for character dialogue.  I mean I've seen movies with bad writing, but when RT said this movie is filled with awful war movie cliche, that didn't prepare me for just how awful it'd really be.

Makes for an okay rental though, and possibly better than Sucker Punch, lol.

[Nuclear1]

My opinion was: Blackhawk Down with Aliens.

QFT.

[mxlm]

My opinion was: Blackhawk Down with Aliens.

Wish I could have seen that movie.

[PsychoLandlord]

My opinion was: Blackhawk Down with Aliens.

Thats what they billed it as from the beginning, thats what it was, and it was awesome as a result. The Aliens were fairly well done too, as far as Invasion tactics go. They still made monolithically stupid choices in the long run, but compared to most other invasion flicks, these guys were badasses.

[StarSlayer]

"I'm a Veterinarian!"

* StarSlayer and the rest of the theater audience collectively groan.

The fact Aaron Eckhart's character was still an E-6 going on twenty years in the Corps(musta been busted down...  a lot) and the shooting of an Alien UAV with an AT-4 also got some chuckles.  That said it was fun/different to get a grunt level view of an alien invasion scenario and Aron Eckart did a good enough job to anchor the thing, despite the cheese. Did I personally think it was worth the $6.50? Yep.

[Fearless Leader]

The fact Aaron Eckhart's character was still an E-6 going on twenty years in the Corps(musta been busted down...  a lot) and the shooting of an Alien UAV with an AT-4 also got some chuckles

  Yeah man, my wife and I are both veterans, and we got a kick out of all that. The other funny thing is when all the younger marines run past him on the beach at the beginning, and they are all like "Good morning SSgt" I LOLed. I really liked the scene when they are all on the chinook riding into God knows what, I felt like they portrayed the feeling of that well, but IRL you cant hear anything when you are flying in one.
The most annoying thing was they kept saying FOB like "Ef oh bee", instead of just saying fob, we all call them fobs, fob is easier to say, dont try to make it sound more military, hearing it was like nails on a chalk board. Despite that, I liked it.

[Nemesis6]

This movie could have been very salvageable if they had cut all non-essential dialogue. For example, when they get to the FOB. The crying and pep-talking doesn't work because I don't care about the paper-thin characters. They should have focused purely on making an action movie.

By the way, did anyone else notice that these guys didn't seem to act like, well, "soldiers" or "marines"? When they're first attacked and dealt a crippling blow, they were bunched up, slowly moving along the middle of the street. I'm not a military man, and hopefully I'll never be, but that just seems like something you'd just know not to do. Anyway, I think they should make a sequel. Cut out all talking. I think I speak for most people here when I say that I zoned when they got the FOB-thingy and he starts talking to the kid. Cut out stuff like that, and they'd have a much better framework for the sequel.

[Scourge of Ages]

I also enjoyed the movie. And would like to echo most of the things previously said in this thread.

[mxlm]

By the way, did anyone else notice that these guys didn't seem to act like, well, "soldiers" or "marines"? When they're first attacked and dealt a crippling blow, they were bunched up, slowly moving along the middle of the street. I'm not a military man, and hopefully I'll never be, but that just seems like something you'd just know not to do. Anyway, I think they should make a sequel. Cut out all talking. I think I speak for most people here when I say that I zoned when they got the FOB-thingy and he starts talking to the kid. Cut out stuff like that, and they'd have a much better framework for the sequel.

The talking certainly didn't help, but the movie failed when the aliens stopped being indistinct, barely-visible forms and became, uh, guys in robot suits shuffling along an overpass. Well. The tension had drained out of the film before that point, but that was when it became clear it was never going to get better.

[newman]

By the way, did anyone else notice that these guys didn't seem to act like, well, "soldiers" or "marines"? When they're first attacked and dealt a crippling blow, they were bunched up, slowly moving along the middle of the street.

I haven't seen the movie yet so I can't judge how realistic the unit tactics were portrayed, but one thing I do remember some actual Delta Force people saying about urban warfare is that the middle of a street is infinitely better than being right next to a building (unless you plan on taking cover inside one). The reason being, the enemy will find it much harder to aim and hit you in the middle of a street because they can't use the buildings as a point of reference when aiming - if you're next to a building all they have to do is aim their sights down the row of buildings to get a bead on you.
Not sure if that's relevant to the scene you mentioned since I haven't seen it though.

[Nuclear1]

Yeah, and it's much easier to spot a bomb planted in the street or in a car wreck than it is to spot a bomb through a wall in a building you're walking up against.

[Kosh]

Why isn't there a topic for this yet?  I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.  Much, much, better than Skyline.  I think what made it good was that it was less a pure sci-fi movie, and more a war movie that happened to have aliens.  Said aliens were more realistic than most, they still used projectiles, and were not immune to bullets themselves.  They also used reasonable tactics, as did the humans.  The only wall banger for me was their reason for invading, but then again any society with the capability to travel the stars should not need anything of ours anyway.  All in all I found it a movie that I might even see again in theaters.

Those star drives dont power themselves, and they likely have an expanding population that needs new planets to settle. Our planet is one that is within their heat tolerances, so therefore they do very much need what we have, if not just to settle.

[General Battuta]

Why isn't there a topic for this yet?  I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.  Much, much, better than Skyline.  I think what made it good was that it was less a pure sci-fi movie, and more a war movie that happened to have aliens.  Said aliens were more realistic than most, they still used projectiles, and were not immune to bullets themselves.  They also used reasonable tactics, as did the humans.  The only wall banger for me was their reason for invading, but then again any society with the capability to travel the stars should not need anything of ours anyway.  All in all I found it a movie that I might even see again in theaters.

Those star drives dont power themselves, and they likely have an expanding population that needs new planets to settle. Our planet is one that is within their heat tolerances, so therefore they do very much need what we have, if not just to settle.

That might make sense if the movie hadn't given a totally different reason for the invasion

[Kosh]

I thought the reason given was was colonization and exploitation of our resources, in this case salt water which they somehow use as a fuel. That being said, they themselves seem to be an aquatic species so settlement isn't entirely out of the question, even if that wasn't explicitly stated.


Or maybe I'm misremembering.......

[Ravenholme]

Why isn't there a topic for this yet?  I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.  Much, much, better than Skyline.  I think what made it good was that it was less a pure sci-fi movie, and more a war movie that happened to have aliens.  Said aliens were more realistic than most, they still used projectiles, and were not immune to bullets themselves.  They also used reasonable tactics, as did the humans.  The only wall banger for me was their reason for invading, but then again any society with the capability to travel the stars should not need anything of ours anyway.  All in all I found it a movie that I might even see again in theaters.

Those star drives dont power themselves, and they likely have an expanding population that needs new planets to settle. Our planet is one that is within their heat tolerances, so therefore they do very much need what we have, if not just to settle.

That might make sense if the movie hadn't given a totally different reason for the invasion

The reason given was our plentiful surface supply of liquid water.

[General Battuta]

Why isn't there a topic for this yet?  I was pleasantly surprised by the movie.  Much, much, better than Skyline.  I think what made it good was that it was less a pure sci-fi movie, and more a war movie that happened to have aliens.  Said aliens were more realistic than most, they still used projectiles, and were not immune to bullets themselves.  They also used reasonable tactics, as did the humans.  The only wall banger for me was their reason for invading, but then again any society with the capability to travel the stars should not need anything of ours anyway.  All in all I found it a movie that I might even see again in theaters.

Those star drives dont power themselves, and they likely have an expanding population that needs new planets to settle. Our planet is one that is within their heat tolerances, so therefore they do very much need what we have, if not just to settle.

That might make sense if the movie hadn't given a totally different reason for the invasion

The reason given was our plentiful surface supply of liquid water.

Which is a perfectly good reason for aliens to invadafppffffffffffffthahahahaha

That said I think I'd maybe like this movie.