Battleship
Battleshipis a movie that is enjoyable beyond expectation, but doesn’t offer much more than the fast-food-style fun of a summer movie spectacle.
Let ’s just get this out of the way up front : Battleshipthe pic has little to do with the Hasbro board game that it is base on - other than the fact that it involves Naval struggle on the high ocean . What we get instead is a piece of Zea mays everta summertime playfulness from director Peter Berg ( Hancock , The Kingdom ) ; a movie that unabashedly celebrates the valiance of the men and women of the armed forces .
The history revolves around Alex Hopper ( John Carterstar Taylor Kitsch ) , a smart , capable , and totally reckless immature man who is chaperoned by his older brother and guardian , Navy Commander Stone Hopper ( Alexander Skarsgård ) . One close night , while celebrate his birthday in a local bar , Alex meets Sam ( Brooklyn Decker ) , a bead - dead gorgeous girl who wants nothing more than a chicken burrito to fill her tum . In distinctive Alex fashion , unseasoned Hopper go to inspired ( and reckless ) lengths to obtain enounce burrito ; the act of chivalry gets him the girl , but also leaves him facing severe legal consequences . feast up with care for an out of ascendancy military personnel - child , Stone signs Alex up to join him in the Navy .
Alex ’s intellegence helps him quickly spring up to the rank of Lieutenant , but his continued recklessness makes him a boderline liability - and the bane of Admiral Shane ’s ( Liam Neeson ) cosmos . Compounding the problem is the fact that Admiral Shane is also Sam ’s sire , and the one thing standing between Alex and Sam getting married . As the Hopper brothers take to the sea on their several destroyers for the Navy ’s annual RIMPAC state of war game exercising , Alex has two missions : prove himself as an effective overlook police officer , and secure Admiral Shane ’s approving for his would - be married couple .
The big pull to the write up comes when NASA ’s investigation of remote planet similiar to Earth turns up an unexpected ( an unwelcome ) response . Without warning , a fleet of extraterrestrial spaceships come doss down into Earth ’s atomsphere , damage their communications equipment along the fashion . The ship land in the Pacific with a clean-cut military objective in mind : seize the NASA orbiter that first contacted them in decree to send an intrusion order back to their planet . The alien levy an push noggin over the area to keep out any opposition , trapping Alex , Stone , Sam , and a handful of other armed forces and/or NASA personnel department inside the house of cards , the only line of defense for all humanity .
Battleshipfollows such a familiar Zea mays everta blockbuster formula - punctuated by flat character , predictable arcs and big , loud , action - that Peter Berg could rightly be heralded as the 2d coming of Michael Bay . How much ( or how little ) you enjoy a Michael Bay - brand activity motion-picture show , will for the most part determine how much ( or little ) you enjoyBattleship- though , to be fairish , Berg and Co. summate a little more pith to their film .
The account by Erich and Jon Hoeber ( RED ) offers a standard three - act arc , with the common handful of two - dimensional characters to conform to and root for . Alex is " the uncollectible boy with a honorable heart " ; Stone is the " uptight creditworthy guy " ; Admiral Shane is the gruff , no - nonsensicality military leader ; Sam is the hot young lady with a heart of amber ( she ’s a physical healer for crippled veteran - such a imposing model ! ) ; with a couple of one - note character - the wimpy scientist , a bitter gimpy vet - discombobulate in for unspoiled measure . For all the concern about take pop - star Rihanna taking on her first big feature - picture show role , the singer does a passably okay job playing the smarmy ( and gorgeous ) Petty Officer Raikes , whose primary job is fire off sarcastic remarks and occasionally looking tough ( but still pretty ) as she lets the bullets fly .
The activity sequences in the film were concocted by some of the same minds at Industrial Light and Magic who broughtTransformersto the big screen - and this is evident in the designs of the aliens , their technology , and in the makeup of the activeness succession . However , ocular panache is arguably theonlything that theTransformersfranchise has gotten right , soBattleshipis , at the very least , an telling VFX case . In Holy Order to bring the loosest sense of connection to the control panel game that breathe in its name , the picture show does have some great Easter nut moments which make lineal reference to the board plot . While these nods are implemented fairly well into the story , they are also obvious lash-up mean to justify Habro ’s brand recognition cash - grab .
Peter Berg is one of the better action directors work in the business ( see : the final act ofThe Kingdom ) , and here he read his repertoire to another level , offering dandy rigid pieces on the open piss , within the mean confines of a ship , and on land . Berg arguably excels over Bay when it comes to creating engaging context for the present moment of action , so that we , the audience , actually handle about what is taking place on CRT screen . For instance : when bitter double - amputee Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales ( Gregory D. Gadson ) finally gets a chance to testify himself on the battlefield again , we ’re really rooting for him , firmly , when the situation could otherwise come off as airheaded .
Similarly , determine Alex go down the ( completely predictable ) way of life of growing into a heroic drawing card could ’ve been a ho - hum affair - but a combination of Kitsch ’s personal appeal and some saucy sequencing from Berg make the journey more enjoyable than it belike should be . As if those accomplishments were n’t enough , Berg also dives deep into the patriotism well , drawing up a bucket of good ol' fashioned military pride that is whole infectious . By the time it is revealed just how the titular battlewagon comes into gambol ( because today ’s Navy has switched to ruiner warships , we are enjoin in heavy - handed exposition ) , it ’ll be impossible not to smile at a collage of multi - generational military valor and might . The picture show injects just enough external flavor ( like Alex ’s challenger , sea captain Yugi Nagata , played byThoractor Tadanobu Asano ) to make the jubilation a global affair , so that no one motivation feel left out .
Alien Soldier in ‘Battleship’
In the end , Battleshipis a movie that is pleasurable beyond expected value , but does n’t offer much more than the fast - nutrient - style play of a summer movie spectacle . It surely is a movie well revel in a big theater ( alongside other viewers simply out for a bit of fun ) , but once the end credits roam , you ’re not potential to retrieve it for very longsighted - especially in this crowded slating of 2012 blockbuster .
Well … except , perhaps , when you once again have to wonder what , incisively , a board game with the little plastic boats , red and white nog , and a two - grid plank has to do with all of this alien invasion madness . Only in Hollywood .
Battleshipis presently playing in theaters worldwide . It is shop PG-13 for intense sequences of ferocity , action mechanism and destruction , and for speech .
Alien Soldier in ‘Battleship’
[ poll id=“316 " ]
For an in - depth discussion of the celluloid by the Screen Rant team check out ourBattleshipepisode of the SR Underground podcast .
Rihanna , Liam Neeson , and Taylor Kitsch star in the 2012 action moving picture version of the circuit board plot Battleship . They play a grouping of Navy SEALs who face an invading fleet of foreign ships . As humanity ’s only hope , they must use all their training and resource to fight the alien invasion and save the planet .
Brooklyn Decker and Gregory D. Gadson in ‘Battleship’
