The aliens in the movie absolutely fail at life. Before you read any further, be warned that this will contain spoilers.
I can soundly make this argument based on several reasons:
1. The aliens ignored the first rule of planetary invasion: analyze the target before commencing the attack. They had the ability to detect and trace our radio signals, for crying out loud. They should have taken some time to sit back and study the history of our race, specifically that of to what level of technology we have, what degree of adaptability is inherent in our species, and how we react to foreign invaders. Now, of course they probably just sent in a small task force ahead of the entire galactic armada to study how we would react to a direct hostile attack, but there are obviously better ways of performing this analysis without the waste of so many resources. They made the dire mistake of underestimating humans.
2. The aliens entire air support was completely composed of drones. Big mistake. All the humans had to do was destroy a command center to completely disable the air drones in that region (and that's exactly what they did).
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| Ya, kinda like that. |
Having unmanned aircraft like this can only possibly have one advantage: cannon fodder. They can be used to scout unexplored areas, they can be sent in as distractions to run down the opponent's ammo and resources, and they can even be used to intercept missiles. Basically, good only for distraction and defense. Not at all good for the brunt offensive, such as the aliens were doing in the movie. What they should have done was have the offensive portion of their air support consist of manned aircraft, having intelligence and on the spot tactics in each individual ship, while the drones would be used for what they're supposed to be used for.
At least the aliens were still living, which brings us to reason number 3 for why the aliens fail at life.
3. The ground troops were, thankfully, not drones. However, they were oddly susceptible to our own full metal jacket rounds and explosives. They had this awesome metalloid armor that, for some strange reason, could be punctured quite easily. So let's think about this for a minute. This sentient race, originating probably millions upon millions of light years away, have developed the technology to travel through space and time, through the void, in order to invade our own little blue planet, and to have awesome and superior weaponry, and yet they weren't able to develop armor that could render primitive weapons such as the ones we have useless? Are the aliens unable to adapt properly, or have they only encountered other sentient races inferior and far more primitive than our own? On top of this, the technology that the aliens implemented was faulty. One of the weapons they used was this big cannon manned by one alien that charged up and fired several homing missiles at once. It was easily transported because its construction consisted of giant legs that allowed it to be moved over many types of terrain. What makes it faulty, however, is the fact that our bullets were able to penetrate the machine and take out one of the joints on one of the legs, making it fall over. Sure, the aliens quickly repaired the thing, but this should never have happened in the first place. The list goes on and on, but I don't have much space. I'll let you figure the rest out for yourself.
4. Why were the aliens relying on ground troops in the first place? Seriously, they were bent on destroying any and all resistance, and they only attacked the planet for one apparent reason (which we will get to later). Since they weren't concerned about preserving the ecosystem of the planet, they could have saved a lot of time and resources by commencing a planetary bombardment from the earth's atmosphere. They need not destroy the planet, for that would just be counter productive, but they only had to bombard the land masses in order to eliminate any and all life on the surface.
5. Possibly the biggest reason that the aliens fail at life is that they attacked Earth in the first place. What was their reason for doing this? Water. They need water in its liquid form in order to sustain life and run their machinery. As if it's not available anywhere else in the galaxy. Take for example a water giant. These water-worlds can have oceans that are hundreds of times bigger than that of the earth's and about 10 times deeper. One can't forget about Europa, Jupiter's icy moon. The aliens have the technology to hurl massive fireballs at unsuspecting races, you'd think they'd have the ability to melt water in its solid state. There is also the Kuiper Belt, which is a belt of ice bodies just outside of Neptune's orbit. Most of the solar system's water and organic compounds are located in this area.
Again, why did they choose Earth? Is it because it's a nice little resort planet? Or are the aliens just sadistic jerks who enjoy playing the bully on the anthill with the magnifying glass? Either way, they obviously can't stack up to the might of their buddies from ID4.
6. The aliens in Battle Los Angeles were just way too easy for us to beat (it took a staff sergeant and a veterinarian about 5 minutes to dissect a specimen and figure out how to kill them). Sure, we took a good beating from them, but it lasted only for so long. Their physical anatomy didn't make much sense either, but I'm not going to go into details there. Also, they apparently weren't very adaptable over long terms, otherwise they would have developed their technology better.
Despite all this being said, Battle Los Angeles was a great action movie nonetheless, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I think it would have been more appropriate if LA's aggressors were a foreign country rather than aliens, as far as defeatability goes.
At least the aliens were still living, which brings us to reason number 3 for why the aliens fail at life.
3. The ground troops were, thankfully, not drones. However, they were oddly susceptible to our own full metal jacket rounds and explosives. They had this awesome metalloid armor that, for some strange reason, could be punctured quite easily. So let's think about this for a minute. This sentient race, originating probably millions upon millions of light years away, have developed the technology to travel through space and time, through the void, in order to invade our own little blue planet, and to have awesome and superior weaponry, and yet they weren't able to develop armor that could render primitive weapons such as the ones we have useless? Are the aliens unable to adapt properly, or have they only encountered other sentient races inferior and far more primitive than our own? On top of this, the technology that the aliens implemented was faulty. One of the weapons they used was this big cannon manned by one alien that charged up and fired several homing missiles at once. It was easily transported because its construction consisted of giant legs that allowed it to be moved over many types of terrain. What makes it faulty, however, is the fact that our bullets were able to penetrate the machine and take out one of the joints on one of the legs, making it fall over. Sure, the aliens quickly repaired the thing, but this should never have happened in the first place. The list goes on and on, but I don't have much space. I'll let you figure the rest out for yourself.
4. Why were the aliens relying on ground troops in the first place? Seriously, they were bent on destroying any and all resistance, and they only attacked the planet for one apparent reason (which we will get to later). Since they weren't concerned about preserving the ecosystem of the planet, they could have saved a lot of time and resources by commencing a planetary bombardment from the earth's atmosphere. They need not destroy the planet, for that would just be counter productive, but they only had to bombard the land masses in order to eliminate any and all life on the surface.
5. Possibly the biggest reason that the aliens fail at life is that they attacked Earth in the first place. What was their reason for doing this? Water. They need water in its liquid form in order to sustain life and run their machinery. As if it's not available anywhere else in the galaxy. Take for example a water giant. These water-worlds can have oceans that are hundreds of times bigger than that of the earth's and about 10 times deeper. One can't forget about Europa, Jupiter's icy moon. The aliens have the technology to hurl massive fireballs at unsuspecting races, you'd think they'd have the ability to melt water in its solid state. There is also the Kuiper Belt, which is a belt of ice bodies just outside of Neptune's orbit. Most of the solar system's water and organic compounds are located in this area.
Again, why did they choose Earth? Is it because it's a nice little resort planet? Or are the aliens just sadistic jerks who enjoy playing the bully on the anthill with the magnifying glass? Either way, they obviously can't stack up to the might of their buddies from ID4.
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| The look of shame in its eyes is just so painful. |
6. The aliens in Battle Los Angeles were just way too easy for us to beat (it took a staff sergeant and a veterinarian about 5 minutes to dissect a specimen and figure out how to kill them). Sure, we took a good beating from them, but it lasted only for so long. Their physical anatomy didn't make much sense either, but I'm not going to go into details there. Also, they apparently weren't very adaptable over long terms, otherwise they would have developed their technology better.
Despite all this being said, Battle Los Angeles was a great action movie nonetheless, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, I think it would have been more appropriate if LA's aggressors were a foreign country rather than aliens, as far as defeatability goes.
