Battleship (C+ or 2.5/4 stars)
Though inspired by the Hasbro board game, 'Battleship' (directed by Peter Berg) is a special effects-driven, sci-fi adventure that has a lot in common with blockbusters like Independence Day, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, & most recently, Transformers - a fellow Hasbro vehicle. The film starts by introducing us to Stone (Alexander Skarsgard) & Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), 2 brothers who appear as different as night & day. The former is serving his country in Hawaii as Navy capt. of the destroyer USS Sampson, while his ineffective, good-for-nothin' sibling gets arrested over a hot blonde named Samantha (Brooklyn Decker) whose father, Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson), is in charge of the entire Pacific fleet {of course he is}.
Considerable time passes & we learn that Alex has not only enlisted in the Navy, but has already risen to the rank of Lieutenant. He's also dating Samantha over the strong objections of her father who doesn't trust that Alex has turned a new leaf. Alex is in the process of drumming up the courage to ask Admiral Shane for permission to marry his daughter when ... 5 mysterious vessels arrive from another planet to decimate their Navy ships in the middle of the ocean. In no time, potential wedding plans take a back seat to defending Earth against aliens. Furthermore, after a series of tragedies, Alex assumes command of the USS John Paul Jones. This affords the bad-boy-with-potential an opportunity to show his bravery as well as a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his future father-in-law.
OK, here is my opinion/breakdown of this film: 1) I enjoyed the first 30 min. of light, brainless set-up. 2) Most of the next 75 min. consists of boom, boom, boom, boom ... oh yeah, and more boom. Without much variance, it becomes boring after a while. I don't know about any of you readers, but non-stop explosions (no matter how great they look/sound) start to lull me to the point of indifference. And 3) the movie ends relatively well with a 20 min. climax & resolution. So my consensus is that it isn't good, but could have been far worse. In fact, if we are to compare this film to the other Hasbro franchise, I would say that this is on par with the 1st Transformers film, & quite a bit better than its 2 sequels.
Why? Because those sequels gave us annoying robot creatures, indecipherable battles, atrocious character portrayals, & poor acting. Don't get me wrong, this film has boring stretches (as mentioned). The script lacks flair. But unlike other blockbusters of the same vein, this film isn't "terrible". There's a focus to it. There is skill at play. The aliens are interesting. I liked how the filmmakers bring the Battleship elements to the movie; from the buoy grids as a re-enaction of the board game, to the peg-shaped missiles. Because this film only has a board game to go off of (with no source origin material), I have to say that the plot is simple, but effective. We're given 'some' reason to care about the characters as the invaders from outer space cream everything around them.
I also liked Taylor Kitsch (as I did in John Carter). His cocky, yet endearing portrayal reminds me of early Tom Cruise (from the Risky Business, Top Gun, Cocktail era). He's the anchor {pun intended} of the film. Liam Neeson does his Liam Neeson thing. Brooklyn Decker is hot as hell, but an acting non-entity. And pop icon Rihanna, as a weapon specialist, is fine; though, she doesn't ever speak more than one sentence in any scene ... smart decision by the screenwriters. 'Battleship' is a dumb movie. But it's capably executed; displaying lots of derring-do (some, unbelievably so), & fearlessness in the face of a world-ending situation on the high seas. And though the action gets wearisome, I must commend how incredible it all looked (great visual effects & sound design, as well).
Considerable time passes & we learn that Alex has not only enlisted in the Navy, but has already risen to the rank of Lieutenant. He's also dating Samantha over the strong objections of her father who doesn't trust that Alex has turned a new leaf. Alex is in the process of drumming up the courage to ask Admiral Shane for permission to marry his daughter when ... 5 mysterious vessels arrive from another planet to decimate their Navy ships in the middle of the ocean. In no time, potential wedding plans take a back seat to defending Earth against aliens. Furthermore, after a series of tragedies, Alex assumes command of the USS John Paul Jones. This affords the bad-boy-with-potential an opportunity to show his bravery as well as a chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his future father-in-law.
OK, here is my opinion/breakdown of this film: 1) I enjoyed the first 30 min. of light, brainless set-up. 2) Most of the next 75 min. consists of boom, boom, boom, boom ... oh yeah, and more boom. Without much variance, it becomes boring after a while. I don't know about any of you readers, but non-stop explosions (no matter how great they look/sound) start to lull me to the point of indifference. And 3) the movie ends relatively well with a 20 min. climax & resolution. So my consensus is that it isn't good, but could have been far worse. In fact, if we are to compare this film to the other Hasbro franchise, I would say that this is on par with the 1st Transformers film, & quite a bit better than its 2 sequels.
Why? Because those sequels gave us annoying robot creatures, indecipherable battles, atrocious character portrayals, & poor acting. Don't get me wrong, this film has boring stretches (as mentioned). The script lacks flair. But unlike other blockbusters of the same vein, this film isn't "terrible". There's a focus to it. There is skill at play. The aliens are interesting. I liked how the filmmakers bring the Battleship elements to the movie; from the buoy grids as a re-enaction of the board game, to the peg-shaped missiles. Because this film only has a board game to go off of (with no source origin material), I have to say that the plot is simple, but effective. We're given 'some' reason to care about the characters as the invaders from outer space cream everything around them.
I also liked Taylor Kitsch (as I did in John Carter). His cocky, yet endearing portrayal reminds me of early Tom Cruise (from the Risky Business, Top Gun, Cocktail era). He's the anchor {pun intended} of the film. Liam Neeson does his Liam Neeson thing. Brooklyn Decker is hot as hell, but an acting non-entity. And pop icon Rihanna, as a weapon specialist, is fine; though, she doesn't ever speak more than one sentence in any scene ... smart decision by the screenwriters. 'Battleship' is a dumb movie. But it's capably executed; displaying lots of derring-do (some, unbelievably so), & fearlessness in the face of a world-ending situation on the high seas. And though the action gets wearisome, I must commend how incredible it all looked (great visual effects & sound design, as well).