The new alien invasion film Battle: Los Angeles does so many things correctly that it seems only fair that we get the failures out of the way right up front. There aren't many memorable or identifiable characters here. Aside from Aaron Eckhart's retiring staff sergeant and a couple of recognizable grunt archetypes, the victim fodder is mostly forgettable. The script, by Christopher Bertolini, is limited in its vision and scope, reducing an all out war of the worlds to a series of singular "A to B" quests. And as for the angry spacemen themselves, well, they aren't impressive either. Combine the insectazoids from District 9 with a pinch of Starship Troopers and weird robotic movement and you've got an idea of how these critters work, conceptually.

On the plus side, however, director Jonathan Liebesman understands action. He knows how to make his shaky-cam compositions work with the necessary amount of edge-of-your-seat electricity, and he never overuses the optical gimmick when the firefights ratchet into overdrive. In fact, the movie more or less never lets up, going from crisis to crisis with a narrative crispness that comes from proper pacing. Sure, the first 20 minutes or so are slow and sloppy, our company of Marines mandating the standard shorthand introductions and explanations. But once the mislabeled "meteors" start dropping, this is one battle that barely takes a breath.

The story centers on Staff Sgt. Michael Nantz (Eckhart), in denial over a recent tragedy while on a tour of duty in the Middle East and now ready to hang it up. As a favor to his superior, he agrees to stay on and help train a new squad, including a fresh and untested Lieutenant (Ramón Rodríguez), a wise guy Jersey boy (Gino Anthony Pesi), a newly engaged ladies man (Ne-Yo), a Nigerian medic (Adetokumboh M'Cormack) and an unsteady soldier under psychological observation (Jim Parrack).

Before they can really get started, the California coast is attacked. Aliens from another planet have come to this one for its water supply, and they are wiping out any indigenous impediment to same. As they fight to find survivors, the group comes across a downed Navy pilot (Michelle Rodriguez) with some important information. Hooking up with a single father (Michael Pena), a veterinarian (Bridget Moynahan) and their kids, they hope to get to safety before the Air Force uses L.A. for nuclear target practice. It's a last stand for mankind...and it may be too late.

Because of its desire to willfully wallow in buckets of "Ooh-rah" machismo while waving the good old red, white, and blue, there are times when Battle: Los Angeles out-patriots Independence Day. Unfortunately, there's also a desire to waste time in pointless character prattle a la Skyline. Somewhere in the middle lies this otherwise entertaining thriller, a film that does want to divest itself of its faux authenticity long enough to legitimately get us up and cheering. Sure, we are manipulated into rooting for our men (and woman) in uniform, and the last act defiance and desire to take on the aliens makes our uniformed citizenry more than a bit superhuman.   

That's because this is a movie that, when faced with finding a way out of its considerable contrivances, simply cheats. It throws in the kid factor for maximum adult guilt, and then adds in a vendetta against Nantz and one of his men (whose brother died under the staff sergeant's command) as if fighting off fiends from another galaxy wasn't enough. Make no mistake, Battle: Los Angeles gets a lot of things right. It's the wrong bits that will determine what you ultiamtely think of the movie itself.