Fails the Bechdel test

Battle Los Angeles

Name: Battle Los Angeles
Released: 2011

2011. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman, written by Christopher Bertolini.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

1 / 3

Fails

Yes 1. At least two women
16 women characters. 3 of them speak.
No 2. Who talk to each other
Our parser found no scene where two women talk to each other.
No 3. About something besides a man
Not reached: the film fails an earlier rule.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 1 out of 3.

The film

Los Angeles and other cities around the world are being bombarded by meteors that seem to be slowing down once they hit the earth's atmosphere. The earth is suddenly being invaded by space aliens that have landed off the shore of LA, and who begin killing everybody along the beach. The military is ordered into action. Marine Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), who was about to retire, is reassigned to a new platoon. The platoon, flown by chopper to the forward operating base at Santa Monica Airport, is being led by a new 2nd Lt. Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez). They are sent on a mission to rescue some civilians who are trapped at the police station within alien territory. They only have 3 hours to complete their mission and get out before the Air Force bombs that zone.

Released: 11 Mar 2011
Genres: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 5.7 / 10
Metascore: 37 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 4 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Sgt. Nantz 221 lines, man
Lt. Martinez 68 lines, man
Pvt. Imlay 61 lines, man
Cpl. Correggio 41 lines
Pvt. Kerns 35 lines, man
Cpl. Stavrou 33 lines, man
Cpl. Harris 28 lines, man
Michele 19 lines, woman
Pvt. Lenihan 14 lines, man
Rincon 13 lines, man

Full cast, 49 people

Aaron Eckhart as Michael Nantz
Ramón Rodríguez as William Martinez
Will Rothhaar as Cpl. Lee Imlay
Michael Peña as Joe Rincon
Bridget Moynahan as Michelle
Noel Fisher as Pfc. Shaun Lenihan
Joey King as Kirsten
Beth Keener as Kathy Martinez
Jessica Heap as Jessy
Cory Hardrict as Cpl. Jason Lockett
Jim Parrack as Peter Kerns
Gino Anthony Pesi as Cpl. Nick Stavrou
Ne-Yo as Kevin Harris
James Hiroyuki Liao as Steven Mottola
Adetokumboh M'Cormack as Corpsman Jibril Adukwu
Bryce Cass as Hector Rincon
Michelle Rodriguez as Elena Santos
Neil Brown Jr. as LCpl. Richard Guerrero
Taylor Handley as LCpl. Corey Simmons
Lucas Till as Cpl. Scott Grayston
Kenneth Brown Jr. as Cpl. Richard Oswald
Jadin Gould as Amy
Joe Chrest as 1st Sgt. John Roy
E. Roger Mitchell as Company Captain
Rus Blackwell as Lt. Col. K.N. Ritchie
Susie Abromeit as Amanda
Brandi Coleman as Cherise
David Jensen as Psychiatrist
Stacey Turner as Reporter on TV
Tom Hillmann as Reporter on TV
Lena Clark as Chris
Jamie Norwood as Flower Shop Employee
Todd Cochran as Command Hangar Marine
Nzinga Blake as Adukwu's Sister
Taryn Southern as Reporter on Beach
James D. Dever as Sgt. Major
Alex Aristidis as Beach Goer (uncredited)
Charlotte Biggs as Emergency Medical Tech. (uncredited)
Ava Bogle as Beach Girl 1 (uncredited)
Grant Case as Marine (uncredited)
Kurt Deville as Marine (uncredited)
Nick Jones Jr. as Marine (uncredited)
Phillip Lawrence as U.S. Marine (uncredited)
Keith Middlebrook as Steve Johinson (uncredited)
Courtney Munch as Marine Crew Chief
Jim Palmer as Crew Chief (uncredited)
Michelle Pierce as Shelly (uncredited)
Michael Wozniak as Beach Dude (uncredited)
Marlon Young as Sergeant Major (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 15% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 111

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers

Scenes	Women's lines	Men's lines
1 to 3	0	11
4 to 6	4	21
7 to 9	1	23
10 to 12	0	16
13 to 15	0	6
16 to 18	0	12
19 to 21	0	3
22 to 24	0	4
25 to 27	0	11
28 to 30	0	63
31 to 33	0	9
34 to 36	0	5
37 to 39	0	10
40 to 42	1	11
43 to 45	0	16
46 to 48	6	13
49 to 51	1	14
52 to 54	0	13
55 to 57	0	10
58 to 60	0	8
61 to 63	0	8
64 to 66	1	11
67 to 69	1	1
70 to 72	0	8
73 to 75	2	14
76 to 78	1	16
79 to 81	0	19
82 to 84	0	6
85 to 87	1	55
88 to 90	1	30
91 to 93	6	17
94 to 96	0	1
97 to 99	0	21
100 to 102	0	22
103 to 105	0	17
106 to 108	0	5
109 to 111	0	29

The evidence

Straight from the script
Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 4 are women's.

26 lines from women, 559 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit B: who's in it

16 women and 29 men in the cast. 3 women and 23 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 34 of 685. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 189 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 4% of the words (405), men 96% (9,543).

Exhibit D: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Two women

Two men

Exhibit E: behind the camera

3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Jonathan Liebesman (man)
Written by: Christopher Bertolini (man)
Produced by: Jeffrey Chernov (man), Neal H. Moritz (man), Ori Marmur (man)
Shot by: Lukas Ettlin (man)
Edited by: Christian Wagner (man)
Music by: Brian Tyler (man)
Production design by: Peter Wenham (man)
Costumes by: Sanja Milkovic Hays (woman)
Cast by: Debra Zane (woman), Craig Fincannon (man), Lisa Mae Fincannon (woman), Mark Fincannon (man)