Battle Los Angeles: The Peak of Gaming 

I guess I never realized that this style of movie just sort of ended when we left Iraq... interesting. 🤔

As a marine, I can tell the movie is just one big marine recruiting commercial.

I can't think of anything more embarrassing than being an alien shock trooper, traveling thousands of light years to another world, plummeting through the atmosphere, surviving crashing into the ocean, fighting your way through the city, only to get T-boned by a Humvee.

Halo has one of the best compromises -- where the humans can hold their own against the Covenant planetside, but in space the humans are hopelessly outclassed. It made the Covenant feel like an existential threat while at the same time giving hope that perhaps humanity could beat back the aliens one alien at a time.

The "Developed by Infinity Ward" credits was a hilarious touch

Fun fact: the US Army and Marines have a gentleman's agreement that the marines will always handle aliens and the Army will always handle monsters.

Won’t lie, I love how the aliens are designed in this film. The “land sharks” are a mix of stupid, brilliant, and practical. They’re a species so desperate to survive that they graft guns to their limbs and stretch their bodies over exoskeletons in what I imagine would be an unbelievably painful process. Point is: I just think they’re neat.

In the movie actually, the aliens were defeated and chased out of their home system by another force (aliens). So for the veteran, they are not evil, they are just desperate after facing a defeat back at home and being forced to run. That's why they looked so run down and disorganized because most of their troops had already been defeated and they were running on scraps. So a victim turned enemy

I cried during this film. My dad was talking about how he wanted to see this movie. He was dead not to long after. So I watched it for him and it just still hits me right in the feels.

Battle: LA actually had some shockingly in depth lore for the aliens.

The lore for the aliens is suprisingly indepth and well thought out. They're originally an aquatic species so that's why their bodies were modified and why they don't seem too experienced in land combat, and also why the few land vehicles that we did see were very improvised looking. All their drones and vehicles run on water so that's why they use mostly infantry and why they're invading for water. They were in a losing war against another species on their original water planet so they're not exactly at their best or super well prepared to invade.

This movie was the Battleship 2012 of the infantry corps. It's ironically some of the most realistic ET invasion scenario tactics and overall strategy put to film, and it mimics quite closely to how we'd actually operate in this exact scenario. The communication, formations, positioning, it all matches real world standards. You don't have to like this movie, hell, you can even hate it if you want to. But respect where respect is due, it knew what it wanted to be, and it was exactly that, _perfectly._ And much like Battleship, i love this movie.

I remember walking out of the theater and the first thing my buddy said was "We just watched a two hour version of those marine recruitment commercials." I completely agree, and it was still a fun time.

My head cannon was " lost and resource starved alien colonization fleet has to cobble together an army with whatever they have on hand and launch a half assed invasion to try and save themselves."

Fun fact: Apparently Aaron Eckhart has stated that this was his favorite role he ever played and that he would be completely on board for a sequel. He was so enthusiastic for this film that he insisted on staying on even after he broke his arm. Talk about passion lol!

When it comes to the aliens I like to think of it as there first ever planet invasion like how the humans are in Avatar. That would explain there tactics and weapons because they only just unlocked space travel

It’s my personal opinion that Spielberg’s tripods were the most terrifying depiction of alien invaders in fiction. The absolute dread a Marine must’ve felt hearing a tripod’s foghorn coming towards them, and all that could be done to stall the inevitable is to pound its impenetrable shields with everything in their arsenal, hoping for an instant death with vaporization instead of being collected for torturous blood-harvesting…

I actually like the idea of an alien species being just maybe 50-100 years more advanced than us and struggling to conquer our forces. Although the aliens in Battle LA could travel through space their method looked crude and it looked like a one way option.

Ah yes, the Modern Warfare era, with such films as Transformers, Pacific Rim, Clash of the Titans, Battleship, 2012, Cowboys and Aliens, and, of course, the two Ghost Rider films starring Nick Cage Edit: Why is everyone thinking this is a critical post? I love the Ghost Rider films in particular lol

I remember watching this movie with my dad for the first time. The week before he and I watched the movie "Skyline," another alien invasion movie. Neither of us enjoyed that one very much, but when we finished this movie my dad looked at me and said, "That's how you do an alien invasion movie!" And I couldn't have agreed with him more.

One thing I really liked about this film is the sense that the aliens have their own way of fighting wars and it's not our way. I particularly liked the scene on the freeway where it's clear they have no idea what the tank is or what they're supposed to do about it, because the tank is an _alien weapon_ to them as much as theirs are to us. I don't think you see that often enough,

I didn't realize California Love was over used SO many times

this channel is somehow addressing all of the most obscure and buried memories that inexplicably stuck with me i'm convinced this is just a silent hill-esque mental construct i've built

To be completely honest, I feel like if we ever get “advanced” enough to invade other worlds we would be like the land sharks haha

On the topic of Alien Weaponry around 8:20, it does make sense for an interstellar army up to use primarily light infantry and light motorized doctrine. The worlds that their empire spans are probably unique and have diverse geography and climates, and transporting things in space is a game of mass. Therefore, it makes sense for the aliens to use lighter, more strategically mobile, and more infantry-based units. It’s the same sort of thing you see on our planet with Rapid Deployment Forces like the 11th, 101st, 82nd, and 173rd Airborne of the U.S Army. We could just be seeing the alien vanguard, or their whole army could be structured like this due to its strategic mobility benefits. It’s not really elaborated on.

Fun fact: The Marines operate very similarly to what you see in the movie, and probably would be a realistic response to how we'd respond to an alien invasion on US soil lol. The reason why is they had a Lt. Colonel help the producers with the movie, and a lot of the extras are real Marines. As a result, also very cool, Marines at Camp Pendleton actually got a sneak preview of the movie before its release. Maybe that's why I liked and still like the movie. It's so easy to get the military and it's operations very wrong in movies, and when it's done right it shows.

I’m also an infantry Marine from the 07-11 era. We love this movie for all the reasons you’ve articulated. It’s a respectful and realistic portrayal of normal Marine infantrymen in a science fiction movie with some writing problems.

Very true indeed, it was a war movie with alien as opponent. And that is why I absolutely love it, humans actually have a fighting chance instead of being steamrolled right from the start. I daresay its the most realistic depiction of what the response gonna be to a sudden alien invasion, its chaotic. My only regret with the movie is that it DOESNT HAVE A SEQUEL.

My grandfather somewhat liked this movie, he was a huge fan of the halo books and anything syfi, so this movie holds a special spot in my heart because he died a couple months after the movie released. He was air cav during Vietnam and it upsets me that it wasn’t the war that finally got him it was some stupid heart condition from smoking cigarettes that finally did the job.. Rip Sgt James Baker, you were one hellava trooper

Battle L.A. felt like a feature length Marine Corps recruiting commercial. The Marines did a lot of fighting in Helmand province in 2009-2010 so this movie coming out in 2011 feels like the Marine Corps needed a morale boost for ordinary citizens and maybe wanted to entice some people to sign up. Fast roping, rappelling, driving LAVs, using a SOFLAM, firing rockets, and let's not forget that transition to the pistol at the end. 9mm ball proved really effective against advanced aliens 👽

New challenge for Cody: Find a way to incorporate that Deadliest Warrior IRA vs Taliban clip into every video put out on this channel. So far, he's 2 for 2

I was in the Army (sure, not Marines) when this came out and saw it with several of my battle buddies. Still one of my most favorite movies of all time.

The Land Sharks are actually some of the most practically efficient aliens I've ever seen in a movie. They fight like Humans because Humans are just so damn good at warfare. And all the experts agree that for the foreseeable future, kinetic projectile weapons are here to stay because energy based weapons are incredibly inefficient. The Land Sharks only seem to be 100-200 years more advanced because their method of planetary landing seems to be an atmospheric re-entry pod but will no doubt require the construction of a launch facility and vehicle to get their forces back in space.

Speaking of War of the Worlds, there's a HILARIOUS unofficial sequel where humanity takes the fight to the Martians. It's called Edison's Conquest of Mars. Well worth looking into. The early bits when the big powers of the time fund the expedition is funny shit.

"Marine English is different than normal English" *Screaming in crayons intensifies*

I was in the marines when this movie came out and I loved it mainly because of how much they got right when it came to the actual marines. In so many movies you can tell that they just threw ‘military looking’ stuff together to look cool, but at least in this movie you can tell they at least did their research.

I’m not gonna lie, this is one of the most memorable alien movies I remember watching when I was younger. It’s probably one of my favourites too.

Edge of Tomorrow is, objectively, the best alien invasion movie.

I saw Battle LA on one of my first weekend passes after basic training. It was me, 4-6 other army guys, and then every other seat in the theater was filled with new marines. Watching this movie with the marines cheering on their boys on screen, screaming at them when they aren't properly following their battle drills, and getting hyped during every battle was amazing and will always filter my memories of this movie in nostalgia.

Been a fan of Alternate History Hub for many years. Accidentally stumbling across this channel and finding out that Cody is ALSO a Halo fan amplified my respect for him 1000 fold. Keep up the awesome work, bro. Appreciate you 😊

I must admit, it's incredibly ironic they decided to make an Iraq style war movie where the alien bad guys invade the US for its resources...

Battle: Los Angeles was a movie that really could’ve been outstanding, but instead it was just a good action movie. Which makes it disappointing in a way, but it’s still a really good action movie.

“The most advanced weapon the land sharks bring to the battlefield is what I can only describe as that Boston Dynamics robot with 4 RPGs strapped to the top” To be entirely fair, that description is actually kind of terrifying. A lot more so than what’s actually seen in the film.

I was in the DEP program when this film came out. This film was heavily discussed at our drill and for most of us made our choice to join the marines even more exciting. I always wanted a sequel or an actual video game (not some half assed story tie in) to continue the cliff hanger this film had

This movie holds a special place in my heart. Not only was it the first Blu-ray I ever owned/watched, I bought it on sale from a blockbuster that was shutting down forever. Having been playing Battlefield 3 at the time, it was a nexus of many important things in my life. And yet the movie is really only like, decent I guess.

This movie suprisingly has a lot of military advisors in it. That's why you don't get those flaming explosions everytime they throw a grenade (except that fact that no one yells "grenade!" when they actually thow one).

I think what i love the most about this movie was that, while mind of cheesy and whatnot, the marines felt real. You could connect and empathize with them throughout the struggle. They acted and reacted very believably to everything. Several even got moments to shine iirc. It may also be bias because my cousin just got back from the marines about this time...

I absolutely love Jeff Wayne's musical version of War of the Worlds, and just the fact how artillerymen say that while overpowered, they were not invincible, before that sea battle happened. And I love that it was kinda mentioned here.

An interesting theory I heard behind reasons for the aliens being so weak/military incompetence is because the aliens that invaded aren't actually soldiers, the theory state cheap mercenaries hired by a weak faction of a stronger civilization with no understanding of complex military function.

This reminds me of the Harry Turtledove short story where aliens show up on Earth and everyone is scared, but then they start shooting at us with muskets and our soldiers take them out in seconds. The basic idea is that the secret of interstellar travel is so easy to figure out that every other civilization figured it out in their Medieval period and had no further reason to advance so this civilization that had muskets and canons was super powerful compared to the rest. Meanwhile, on Earth, we never discovered space travel so we kept advancing our military technology. The story ends with humans taking the technology and becoming the new interstellar power because of how advanced our tech is compared to the rest of the universe.

"they invaded us without warning for our resources" i wonder what that reminds me of...

Cody, you call the aliens in Battle LA weak, yet in all the footage you show of them getting killed, it seems to take an entire magazine worth of rounds to drop them. That's pretty tough, in my opinion.

I remembered going to the Theaters watching Battle LA with my friends. After watching the movie, it really made all of us wanted to go home and play Battlefield Bad Company 2 which is exactly what we did and had a very good time. Times were great back then

I never really thought critically about my love for this movie before now, despite seeing it multiple times. I was 21 and had just gotten home from a combat tour of Afghanistan when this movie released, so it was the perfect storm I guess. You hit on a STRONG point about the contrasting moral implications between fighting aliens and fighting human insurgents, and that was something I couldn't articulate at the time, but it made a huge difference in my wormy little brain; seeing an analog of myself on the screen fighting someone that was unequivocally "bad" was almost like a security blanket for me compared to the reality of military service in that era. It would take me years of therapy and soul searching to fully grasp the implications of what we did over there and to come to grips with it all. That said, this movie still has a tender place in my heart in spite of it more or less being mid-tier propaganda. Idk, thanks for making my brain tick a little today, your video was pretty cool.

I'm 60 and this movie is one of my guilty pleasures. It's a blast to watch as long as I don't engage my brain during the movie.

I remember reading this sci-fi short story some time ago, “The Road Not Taken” by Cody’s old buddy Harry Turtledove, where the conceit was that aliens arrived to then-contemporary Earth... but aside from the stuff needed to travel the stars, all of their technology was basically early 1800s level tech. Muskets, telescopes, that sort of thing, and they invaded in force... and promptly got their asses kicked. The whole concept is that humanity just missed discovering the needed tech for space travel, and instead of going off on costly and slow expansionistic voyages of conquest, we stayed home and developed our other tech. A bit silly, but a useful story to point out that technological advancement in one area does not mean a similar level of advancement in all other areas...

Battle LA is easily the best alien movie for me. The aliens actually felt like a threat and seeing them act like human soldiers was so refreshing.

2:42. You know, if they wanted to use a song with "California" in it that basically summed up the absolute shitstorm these marines were headed for, and is also more or less contextually relevant to SSgt. Nantz in the story, they could've just used "Check My Brain" by Alice in Chains. Would've made it a bit more interesting, in my opinion. Also, Black Gives Way to Blue, the album Check My Brain was featured on, was also released in 2009, so back in 2011, when Battle: Los Angeles premiered, it more or less still hot off the press.

That knowing better cameo was unexpected yet made me so happy. Love you both!

The thing that struck me about this when I saw it, if you look closely, on the firefight that takes place on the bridge..you can see an alien treating/evacuating a comrade….I was like…wtf…wow.

"Developed by Infinite Ward" Now I cannot unsee that modern warfare font

Three body problem series has to be the most interesting sci Fi and accurate sci-fi of how a war would actually work out against aliens. It still gives me chills to this day.

I especially liked the last 20 seconds of this video where I realized it was not about Battle LA the game. And the 15 minutes of recycling various ways to say the aliens had to fight fair. If I wasn't already at work I'd be asking for compensation

Ngl I feel like Battle: LA was ahead of it’s time. I was 10-11 when it came out and it always kept with me. I’m starting to see a lot of praise and appreciation for it now. I love the realism of the movie. Marine humor, conventional warfare, desperation, bad circumstances, realistic aliens, realistic military tactics, just alot of realism and didn’t give into typical Hollywood explosions and plots

To add to the Halo bit, it’s important to note that we play as a Spartan, a super soldier far more skilled than the average marine and using the covenant shielding technology on their armor. Just a great combination of balancing gameplay while also having actual lore reasons why it works. The human military was being consistently wiped out until Spartans were developed to be able to actually fight back

Well, the algorithm was 2 years too late showing this to me, but I'm super glad to have stumbled across your channel. I'll definitely be checking out your other videos!

Ending this video with the mw3 music is the cherry on top. Ur content has gotten so good in these recent years. U got talent.

So my best friend was a marine, according to him, this is the top most realistic alien movie he's watched! He says "how the soldiers move, call stuff out, everything, is correct in how he did it"

I just especially like how that one civilian guy picked up the downed rifle and began blasting the shit out of a flanking alien. Civilians jumping to the rescue is just something you rarely ever see in a movie; usually they're the damsels in distress and they stay that way throughout the entire movie.

I remember watching this movie when it came out, on base with a couple of my squad members from my Company. Ahh, that theater was packed, but it was hype as fuck in there, and it was just a fantastic experience while still serving at the time. I got to admit too, the attention to detail on how Marines act, and how our tactics were, etc felt real close to home, like they actually did their research.

I love that you play MWII music in the background as we're going through this! Reliving the glory days 🫡

"the aliens are nerfed" Aliens: "i just came here to conquer planets and honestly youre making me feel so attacked right now"

In defense of this style of film, the Spec Ops squad fighting Scorpinok in the desert from the first Transformers holds up pretty well. Realistic depiction of AWACs and the score really help it feel like the soldiers used their skills and combined arms effectively to take down a vastly superior opponent. Plus, it's badass.

Seeing knowing better randomly pop in this video was a awesome surprise! Knowing better is the best YT channel ever!!!

In a lot of ways, the alien technology actually makes more sense than in other movies because most of what you see (lasers, shields, etc) are entirely fictitious. Having an army that invested into ballistics and how to male them better makes a lot more sense than delving into weapons that just wouldn't work all that well as a primary weapon if it would even work at all.

“This is the Comic Sans of action movies”. Never have I realized just how common that damn font was. I can feel the late 2000s action movies and COD memories flooding my brain just thinking of it

I was in OSUT training at Fort Benning when this film came out. We got out first pass to go off-post near the end of the cycle, so me and my friends all piled into the movie theatre so excited to catch a movie after months of isolation and training. It was amazing and I was so excited to watch it again once I got some freedom and assigned to a duty station. That opinion did not hold up on the second viewing. Not seeing movies or TV for months will make even objectively bad movies into masterpieces.

Also a veteran who deployed and I loved this movie pretty much for exactly the reasons Knowing Better stated. Also loved to see that cameo.

props to you for cooperating with knowing better

Really surprised you didn't talk about the Battle: LA game on Xbox Live Arcade. It was... interesting.

I've always loved this movie and rewatched it fairly regularly. People always act like if aliens got here that they must be unfathomably more advanced than us but they could be at their very limits of ability. Like JC's Avatar, humanity wasn't ripping through portals to get to Pandora, we were using our most advanced technology and it still took 12 years round trip. And I like that it appears that these are a slave caste in their society. They're not citizen-soldiers, they're fodder used to clear out new territory. Air power alone doesn't win wars or occupy territory, we should all be aware of that by now.

I like this video. I also like the knowing better cameo. I think you should make more videos they are very good.

This movie actually did had a movie tie-in game on the XBL arcade, I remember playing it when it came out, but I don't remember much about it other than it was just a very low-budget COD clone, with only 3 guns (There might be more, I only remember the M4, Pistol and One-Shot-Kill Sniper Rifle.) for a kid who wasn't allowed to play COD, that was the closest I could get to playing it.

There are details put into the aliens in this movie that make you think their invasion is a desperate attempt to survive. Their technology, while advanced, looks worn out and it being part of their body also makes it seem like they have to augment themselves to survive, it also looks like they weren't originally living on land and modified their bodies to walk. Their desperate Blitzkrieg looks as if they know that they won't last in a drawn out war on their enemies' home turf. Overall, this felt like a worn out and desperate alien race that launches a last ditch assault on Earth in the hopes of being able to get enough resources or go extinct in the process. These small intricate details along with the it being a war movie first and an alien invasion movie second are what makes this movie stand out to me. It holds a special place in my heart. Also you can replace the Marines by UNSC grunts and the Landsharks by Covenants and you've got a good Halo war movie.

In spite of the original _War Of The Worlds_ basing its aliens off the enemies of Britain at the time, it surprisingly enough has one of the more plausible intelligent alien designs in pop-culture to this day. Despite being a _product_ of its time (where it was legitimate scientific consensus that a humanoid form is required for intelligence), designing the alien threat to look somewhat cephalopod-esque is notably _ahead_ of its time.

Saw this movie in theater as I kid, and truly loved it, one of my favorite alien movie

14:05 really appreciate this segment, definitely opens the door on a different angle to look at this film from 👍

This entire channel is just a pure shot of childhood nostalgia for me. I haven’t thought of Battle: LA or Deadliest Warrior in years. Thanks for reminding about more simplistic times.

I guess this is the channel to talk about Command and Conquer: Generals? The lore is paper thin, but its pretty unique that a game would come out just a month before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, with the first mission for the US faction being a tank attack on Baghdad. and with another playable faction based on an enemy the US was already fighting, as the GLA were a stand in for Al-Qaeda...I remember overwhelming a US base with bomb trucks in 2004 and glancing at the TV to see a report of a suicide bomber attack on a checkpoint somewhere in Iraq. It was a bit of a head fuck, I doubt any game company would have the balls to do something like it again.

Battle LAH, the Modern Warfare 3 we never got.

I know this video is 2 years old now (since a few days ago) but I want to say that I appreciate you using the MW2 soundtrack in the background of this. Just makes me feel all giddy

How they described Battle Los Angeles as awar movie with aliens. Made me think about Half-Life 2. Sure the combine were technologicaly superior to humanity and took over the planet, but in the game you basically fight the 'landsharks' as the Combine Soldiers. Just humans slightly modified and have slightly better weapons. And I can see why a lot of people enjoy Half-Life 2 because the playing field is as even as you can get for an invading alien force.

I completely forgot about Max Keeble. Seeing that clip of the froggy sexual assault reactivated long buried neurons in my memories. Not sure how to feel about that.

Mad respect to knowing better for not only being a vet willing to appear in this video but also being an m240 gunner

We all have that movie where we are like "yeah is not that good, but I really like it".

I’m amazed that they didn’t expand on sequels (BATTLE:NEW YORK, BATTLE: MOSCOW, BATTLE: LONDON) to show that the invasion was not just focused on the UnitedStates, but a global conflict. So much wasted potential.

I;ve always enjoyed Battle:LA and would like to have seen a sequel, either following the same squad or setting it in a different city.

This is one of my cousin's favorite movies because he used to live in LA, and it gets blowed up.

I haven't seen the movie, but I was a part of the team making the companion game for it. Actually, at the time it felt like there was a game and a companion movie to it. Anyway, I think I recognized some of the locations in this video - I've actually played through them while testing the game (in a super-cheater mode). I'm gonna relate to you one joke that was probably not very sensitive. Keep in mind that I was much younger. Anyway, noticing there was one black character among the marines, and one female character, who also doubled as a latino character, I asked my boss which one of the marines was gay. He didn't know but guessed that it was probably the player (it was a first-person shooter, and no, the POV character was not the one played by Eckhart in the movie).

This movie had such an impact on me during my teenage angst. I was literally 13 years old when I saw it in theaters and thought it was the coolest thing to come out of Hollywood at the time. This video almost completely captures how I feel about it now. The only thing I'd like to think is that the CGI holds up today. Probably the nostalgia talking, but this movie nails what I wanted out of a 2010's action flick.