Sequel To "A Few Good Men"

Kids and I went to see Battle: Los Angeles earlier today with relatively low expectations given Hollywood's track record on alien invasion movies in the couple years (think Cloverfield, District 9 and the miserable Skyline).  Even if I was totally disappointed, I don't think the $6 admission at Victoria Gardens AMC before 12 noon would have been too painful -- except the wasted 2 hrs maybe.  However, Battle LA is actually closer to Black Hawk Down than it is to extra-terrestrial invasion genre flicks.  My old neighborhood (Santa Monica Airport, Lincoln Blvd, West LA, etc.) was the setting for the good old US Marines, led by a soon-to-be-retired staff sargeant played by Aaron Eckhart (above pic), find a way to rescue civilians, destroy the command and control center of the invading force, get rescued themselves and then -- go back for more, because "they already had breakfast."  (I've seen Eckhart in numerous movies before but only in this movie did I realize he and Lance Armstrong really have a remarkable resemblance.  Yes, the Lance Armstrong of 7-Tours de France fame.)  Battle LA and Black Hawk Down shared so much in common in terms of going in to an area looking for a fight and kicking ass and taking names.  And the predictability of the plot is almost in the same degree as the predictability of the casting -- I think kicking ass and I think alway hot Michelle Rodriguez, of course.   Action was non-stop from start to finish and before the audience knew it, they just finished watching a 2-hr promotional movie for the United States Marines.