Realistic Marines

Read the review from the paper last week on the film Battle: Los Angeles. Gotta ask a couple of questions. Did your man ever spend any time in the military, and did he see the same film I did? I’m pretty sure the titles were the same. I spent ten years in the Marine Corps and the actions of the Marines were pretty darn close to real life. The technical advisor was as spot on as could be.

The staff sergeant was not retiring the day they went out, he had only gotten his paperwork signed and was preparing to retire. As for the reactions of the Marines in the new platoon, yes they would have reacted exactly that way. I made my way through the ranks and got out as a staff sergeant myself. The young Marines were worried about this new leader coming into the platoon, and the rumor was that he ditched his old platoon, as he was the only survivor. Which of course turned out to be exactly that, a rumor.

The filming technique was also pretty close to spot on. There are special units in the military that use the ‘”ride on” camera and I felt that it put the audience right in the midst of the platoon with the other Marines. There was a similar attempt in the movie Cloverfield, except in that film, it was terrible technique and became very annoying after a short while into the film. The technique was better in this film and added a realistic quality to the movie. Perhaps before talking about how the Marines wouldn’t have done this and that or the other—check out the Corps first. I lived it and breathed it and I say this was pretty darn close to the real deal.