Proportional strategy and luck are required to win Battleship, the family board game Peter Berg's loudly, proudly ridiculous soldiers-vs.-aliens blockbuster rather fancifully claims as its source. As played by Taylor Kitsch's beefy Navy lieutenant, however, victory requires no such niceties -- just the biggest explosives the military can provide. Overlong and underwritten even by the standards of summer f/x extravaganzas, this "Battleship" will nonetheless float with many on the strength of its boyish, eager-to-please razzle-dazzle. Bowing in Europe a month before its U.S. opening, pic should perform robustly enough to greenlight the sequel patently set up by its post-credits sting.

Having already parlayed its beloved G.I. Joe and Transformers action figures into hit Hollywood franchises, toy manufacturing giant Hasbro has now turned its attention to its classic board-game collection. On the surface, the idea isn't as silly as it seems: A board game, after all, has more of a built-in narrative structure than a doll, though Battleship's miss-hit-sink trajectory perhaps tells a simpler story than most. Certainly, a lot of ships get sunk in fraternal writing duo Jon and Erich Hoeber's screenplay, though there the similarity ends; there's nary an in-joke about the game to be found here. Indeed, rather surprisingly coming from the writers of "Red," attempts at hip humor are few and far between; the film mostly lets the missiles do the talking.

Extended pre-credits sequence gets past its science with impressive haste: We're here to play, after all, not to learn. The need-to-knows are that a "Goldilocks planet" (close enough to, and far enough from, the sun in order to sustain life, and therefore just right) has been discovered by NASA in a separate galaxy; the inhabitants of Planet G have responded to scientists' interstellar communications, and decided to pay a visit to Earth.

Cut to Baton Rouge, where jobless layabout Alex (Kitsch) is celebrating his 26th birthday in a dive bar with disapproving older brother Stone (Alexander Skarsgard), a straitlaced Navy recruit. After Alex commits a drunken infraction designed to impress leggy physiotherapist Samantha (Brooklyn Decker), Stone issues a final-straw demand: Alex is to join him in the Navy. In seemingly no time at all, Alex has graduated to lieutenant level despite equally feckless behavior in uniform, and is in a serious relationship with Samantha, whose stern dad (Liam Neeson) just happens to be commander of the Pacific fleet.

All principals are conveniently involved, then, when Planet G's alien spacecraft crashes into the Pacific and rises ominously from the depths near the naval base in Oahu, Hawaii. A reconnaissance mission led by Alex and scrappy female officer Raikes (Rihanna) aggravates the visitors into opening fire, setting the stage for a protracted series of back-and-forth pyrotechnic attacks of increasing sound and fury until an abruptly curtailed finale. The comparatively limp mainland action, meanwhile, finds Samantha weathering the storm with paraplegic Army veteran Mick (real-life Iraq hero Gregory D. Gadson) and technical geek Cal (Hamish Linklater), who devises a way to break the aliens' communication wall.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," mutters Alex, a veritable Cassandra of the high seas -- and that's after two destroyer ships have already been blown to smithereens. Bright enough to quote Homer back at his commanding officer, but dim enough to think the Japanese wrote "The Art of War," he's too blandly inscrutable a hero to root for with much enthusiasm, which goes for most of the characters. The exception is Decker's Samantha, who's so unctuously inexpressive, we might actively root for her demise under one of the enemy's flaming razor-balls. The aliens, encased in markedly Power Ranger-like suits, are no more defined in personality or motivation, making it rather easy to sit back and enjoy the fireworks without taking sides any more than one would while observing, say, a game of Battleship between two strangers. (Maybe there's something to the screenwriters' claims after all.)

The attractive cast does no more than Berg and the script require, which is very little indeed. After "John Carter," Kitsch is still waiting for a film vehicle to make good on the easy, authentic charm he exhibits in TV's "Friday Night Lights," though he's physically up to the task here. Fans of pop megastar Rihanna, making her film debut, will be disappointed to find that the role of Raikes may as well be renamed Young Female Demographic for all the pertinence it has to the narrative, but she's a sparky enough presence.

Tech credits are all polished, if not as metallically sleek as they would be with a Michael Bay-style craftsman at the helm. Tobias Schliesser's lensing covers the teal-and-orange palette seemingly mandatory for such adventures these days, while Steve Jablonsky's score thumps and drones away with nary a pause, little betraying the presence of rock super-producer Rick Rubin and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello on the music team.

The bulk of the attention in this evidently expensive production has been lavished on Industrial Light & Magic's typically immaculate effects, which are firmly in the "Transformers" mold stylistically, with the added challenge of water simulation. That such state-of-the-art creations have been used to realize a story whose climax hinges on a true-life WWII battleship, USS Missouri, outlasting its newer, shinier rivals is an irony probably lost on all involved.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117947367?refcatid=31

^they praised her.

I knew this movie was going to be bad, but it may be those bad movies that are just so good. Just seeing my boo Alexander on the big screen is good enough.

It took me more than once reading what they've written about her to understand. I still don't.

They mean she did an okay job with the material she was given...........I think.

i think it means that's she's basically an extra. not sure tho

It's a ****** role that exists only to attract girls to the movie, but she's pretty good in it.

I see. Well, at least that's a good for a debut.

She acted good with a bad role basically? She could act if she wanted, I'd only support her tbh

Well it's nice that they liked Rihanna. She definitely seems a competent and motivated fit for this "badass gun chick" role.

But this film has looked pretty terrible from the offset.

I believe they essentially said she acted good in a bad role. That's a good thing considering most popstars get dragged through the depths of hell for a bad debut.

Are there other reviews?

Nicole, you should just make this the official Battleship review thread so people don't create 100 threads with reviews.

Death! Really?

"BATTLESHIP" opens with an introduction to Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch aka 'John Carter'), a brash young man who pulls all sorts of stunts without thinking first. This is especially so when he wants to impress a pretty lass named Samantha (Brooklyn Decker) who happens to be the daughter of US Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson). To get him out of trouble, his brother Stone (Alexander Skarsgard) enlists him into the US Navy - where his reckless behaviour gets him into even more trouble.

In real life, Alex would be deemed a regular jackass but to Hollywood script-writers, he has all the qualifications of the 'reluctant hero' in their action fantasies. This 'heroic turnaround' happens during a huge naval exercise in Hawaii when critters from a distant planet attack Earth with much superior weapons. Teaming up with other unlikely heroes like Petty Officer Cora Raikes (Rihanna), Capt Nagata (Tadanobu Asano) and crew mate Ordy (Jesse Plemons), Lt Hopper puts all his skills to the test to save the world!

The action set pieces here are not as awesome as last year's "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" but the early scenes of crashing buildings and exploding battleships are convincing enough to put the point across that the world is being invaded. Director Peter Berg heightens the excitement by showing the point-of-view of the aliens as they prepare to shoot - and the 'flying yo-yo' weapons of the aliens produce extensive destruction for maximum visual impact.

Berg rightly anchors the story on its characters, providing humorous glimpses of how some people react to the alien threat. Of course, we get the feeling that we are missing the 'big picture' because the action is concentrated only on a handful of individuals. We don't get to see how others are affected by the massive destruction elsewhere. These are just mentioned on the TV news.

It is interesting that Kitsch is starring in two of this year's most expensive movies: John Carter (at US$250 million) and Battleship ($200 million). However, unlike John Carter, Kitsch has a better and more developed role here. His Alex is a bit of a caricature - and Kitsch plays him with the requisite touch of humour. Neeson provides the 'veteran thespian' stature to the proceedings as the no-nonsense Admiral while Decker has the eye-candy role even if she is not as sexily decked out as Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon".

Singer Rihanna is unimpressive as Raikes - a role similar to Michele Rodriguez's Trudy in "Avatar". Maybe she does not have good lines - but then most of the dialogue here are sloppy. Also, in order to enjoy the action, we have to overlook the numerous plot holes and suspend disbelief a great deal, especially near the end where we are to accept that a famous 70-year-old battleship can be recommissioned to do heavy battle in just a matter of hours.

THE VERDICT: Hey, everything up on the screen is silly, but "Battleship" is guilty fun and the effects are awesome! Now, will you pass the popcorn, please? Full review at limchangmoh.blogspot.com

http://www.movieweb.com/movie/battleship/REGmskiYHGaFKH

For a film that claims to be based on the beloved strategic board game, those involved in Peter Berg’s Battleship do not seem to spend much time popping little pegs into various plastic holes because they are far more preoccupied with fighting off an endless wave of gigantic alien spaceships and invaders on land, in air and on the dangerous shores of sea. To say Battleship is a dramatisation of the Hasbro game is like saying Battle: Los Angeles is an American War documentary.
Berg’s loosely-strung Sci-Fi sees Lt. Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), a US Naval officer who is at the forefront of a Navy War Games exercise; however things take a turn for the worst when they and indeed Earth are sabotaged by an alien race hell-bend on causing chaos and destruction. Now Hopper and his team onboard the USS John Paul Jones including weapons specialist Petty Officer Raikes (Rihanna) and his father and leader Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson) must fight and protect their country like never before.
From the trailers and promotion alone, audiences are well aware of what they are investing their time and money in with Battleship – it makes no secret that it is going to be an extremely loud, pyrotechnic-heavy and poorly-written action affair and that is exactly what it delivers. It has also made a tremendous point that the film is from Hasbro, the team behind Transformers however, they left out one tiny little detail – it actually is Transformers.

Considering Michael Bay had absolutely no credited input into Berg’s latest, it almost plays out as a carbon-copy of the multi-million dollar franchise just as sea rather than inside Chevrolet’s, and whilst like Transformers the action is incredibly well-constructed and visually exciting, too much of this film feels familiar and pre-worn.
Now with a film like this, one would be mad to expect anything but a tyrant of flashing images, high-octane battles and endless shouting but that is not an excuse for the film to forget about cinematic formatting and structuring – at least Bay forms and produces his films on the idea that his insane scale and scope makes for giddy and brain-dead popcorn fun but Berg obviously missed his step when trying to find the line between trashy and entertaining.
Battleship certainly isn’t terrible and has some truly rewarding features – for starters, it’s not in 3D which is a genuine relief because with all this endless mayhem going on for 142 minutes, the vast majority of audiences would probably leave with either a migraine or motion sickness. Plus Berg’s direction is beautifully crafted and well-handled; his eye for explosive details and uses of space is quite remarkable. With Battleship, he builds on the processes he created with Hancock and the improvements are dramatic. All the madness is fabulously choreographed and formulated and the gallons of CGI special effects are no-doubt dazzling and jaw-dropping, but this ship is sadly weighed down by its cons.
Battleship suffers from its length and pacing; like so many Hollywood-effect bonanzas, it outstays it’s welcome and with the pyromania igniting the screen pretty much from the off, there’s only so many explosions, detonations and green-screen deaths viewers can appreciate and be excited by before it becomes a little tiresome.

Also every actor involved with the project is poor – Neeson rarely looks like he actually cares about being involved and it’s clear this was just easy bucks for him, Alexander Skarsgard is bland and one-dimension is his role as Hopper’s older brother Stone which is a shame because he has proven he has screen presence in films like Melancholia and my predictions about Rihanna were sadly true – I love her music and image but acting is not amongst her many talents. It’s brutally obvious that she was whacked in for someone to lust over; a hot chick within a male-orientated environment that just has to look sexy and tough to get by. Plus Sports Illustrated model and cinematic drip Brooklyn Decker pops up now and again as Hopper’s wife just to remind viewers how awful she is.
But perhaps worst of all is Kitsch – his central performance here is supposed to be the binding adhesive for any sort of characterisation within and he fails to deliver. After the baggy, over-long and shoddy John Carter, one slightly hoped he would redeem himself but it seems we’ll be waiting a little longer for an example of his talents.
Overall, Battleship earns enough merit and is worthy of being seen on the big screen and in IMAX if possible thanks to Berg’s direction, the picture’s impressively relentless effects and for being a bit of escapist fun, but like so many of these recent action ‘epics’, it suffers from not truly caring about being a film and is far too involved with presenting a showy cabaret of fireworks and techno-excellence, and considering this is amongst Universal’s most promoted for their 100th anniversary, it seems a bit of a slap in the face to a studio that defined the horror genre, created the monster movie and gave us such masterpieces as Touch of Evil, Jaws and Jurassic Park. Ho-Hum.

http://www.filmoria.co.uk/2012/04/fi...ew-battleship/

So far it seems like she did a good job

I can't wait to see it for myself