Battleship





Battleship is one of those movies that I completely wonder what the critics went into this movie expecting? I mean this is a movie that is loosely based on a board game in which the players try to guess where the opponent has placed their ships. So I went into this movie expecting a lot of special effects, CGI and action with a super thin plot of basically aliens invading and it is up to a few ships as they end up playing out the battle for earth at sea. For myself I really enjoy science fiction type movies and so I really go into these types of movies not judging what has been said by critics. While Hasbro may not have hit the success like they may have had with the Transformers franchise, I did not find this movie to be as horrible as many critics and others have felt that this movie to be. Battleship is one of those aliens invading movies and the human race is the definite underdog that the audience just needs to sit back relax and enjoy the ride.

Taylor Kitsch in the role of Lt. Alex Hopper did the best that he could with what the role offered him. We get a little character development and set up of who his character is at the beginning and then from that point we get nothing. Kitsch though seems to hold his own through the action and I felt that had the dialogue been stronger it would have only made his performance that much more powerful. Having seen Kitsch in the TV series of Friday Night Lights and what he is able to do with strongly written dialogue I see that he has great potential on the big screen he just needs a role in which the dialogue he is given will match what he can turn out. Liam Neeson in a small role of Admiral Shane, ends up playing the strict father and Navy commander that demands perfection from the sailors in the Navy exactly how a Navy commander would be. While Neeson has had poor choices from time to time he still seems to be able to deliver strong performances even if it is a role that does not require much from him. Brooklyn Decker in the role of Samantha Shane, Kitsch's love interest in the film really ends up being not much more then eye candy. While with her role I think they tried to instill her more as to being able to not just being a helpless damsel in distress, she never really amounted to  being believable in being a part of the action. Rihanna in the role of Petty Officer Cora, really did not amount like I would have expected her to be. I think she ended up being a secondary character that really got lost in the shuffle with all the other secondary characters. I wanted to see her play the role with a stronger amount of toughness and really be a better character then all the others. The supporting cast all for the most part end up being fairly unmemorable, aside from the Japanese ship Captain played by Tadanobu Asano. The chemistry that is developed between him and Kitsch as this rivalry at the beginning to the respect that they end up having one with another.

The story is where Battleship truly lacked a lot and had it had a strong story and plot to go along with the action this movie could have really been a lot stronger. The first fifteen minutes of Battleship end up feeling fairly slow, simply because this is the part of the movie where we get the character development set up and then after that point there is no character development that takes place. The main aspect of the story is that scientists have created a deep space satellite to attempt to make contact with a planet that has a similar relationship to a sun as Earth. Of course, this leads to an actual alien response of a small fleet of ships coming to earth and the aliens having an apparent desire to takeover the earth. Unfortunately, I feel like they missed a golden opportunity to really help make the story stronger, by simply giving us a little depth to what made the aliens desire to actually come across space to invade earth. I found myself wanting to know more and wishing that I knew the purpose behind the invasion. The story layout was not all bad though, I think the great aspect they worked on was that the aliens technology was not so far above and beyond what we have here on earth that it was truly an even match up, as it truly ended up making the movie one where it came down to the strategic decisions by the commanders of the ships.

The action sequences is precisely what is expected in a big summer blockbuster movie. The explosions are large and are just awesome type moments. While some may have found it to be completely cheesy, I was really interested to see how they might add elements of the game into the movie, so I thought the night sequence with the fact the radar did not work so that both the aliens and the Naval ship have no idea where the other one is. I found the use of the wave displacement buoys to set up a grid for where to aim shots to be pretty clever and really give those in the audience that played the game growing up a moment of paying homage to the game. The CGI used in Battleship is fairly seamless, but like any movie that has moments of CGI it does not always work perfectly. The look for the alien ships as well as the armor of the aliens I thought was well thought out and it really had a cool look to it. I liked the concept that the alien ships rather then just moving through the water like a regular ship but the hop movement that it has to be a unique aspect to really distinguish the technology. The other part of the movie that really helped the action to work for me was that of using the classic rock music at different moments. I am a total sucker for classic rock and so when a movie can use classic rock in a way to make the action seem even that much more in your face, and I think that Battleship was able to integrate the classic rock perfectly to fit the movie style.

Battleship is a movie that is not as bad as it has seemed to get. I really found the action sequences and the performances to work well. I believe one of the strongest aspect was that they did not make the aliens so superior that everything we throw at the aliens will not work until we find a weakness to exploit, instead the aliens technology was not superior so it made the battle between the two forces be one where strategic decisions were what determined the outcome of the conflict. There is an after credits clip and I found it to be disappointing, because while it hints to a possibility for a sequel, I am not sure where they can take the sequel. The plot was almost virtually non-existent and had they given some better depth throughout the movie rather then just the beginning it really would have made a difference in the end. I am giving Battleship three buckets of popcorn out of five. If you are a fan of sci-fi movies this may definitely be one that is worth seeing in the theater.

-The Movie Man