Battleship

I based my initial opinion on the IMDb score and from the odd critic review when this was released. I watched this last night and was pleasantly surprised. its a lot better then I expected. I wont go into detail about the plot etc as its in the summary. the only actors I knew were Liam Neeson and Rhianna. Rhianna was better then most other singers that attempt acting. I think to put this in perspective I will tell you some of my favourite films as I feel if you also like these you will like battleship: transformers, skyline, matrix, avatar, lethal weapon, die-hard, van damme films, terminator 2. (I couldn't list them all. :-) ) ignore the fact the enemy look like transformer. I think the makers have done well turning a very old, guesswork boardgame into a pretty decent movie.

Heaven help me! I liked this movie, now I am going to be one of the few who did. As you can see from the other reviews a lot of people didn't like this movie, so why did I?

1. I came in with low expectations - I was expecting something horrible, boring, long and pointless, but despite myself I liked it, I laughed at the jokes, I connected with the actors (yes, Rihanna too), I was excited by the action and while clichés the plot held my interest

2. The actors did a good job with what they were given - Taylor Kitsch did a good job, Rihanna wasn't that bad, I dare say good, in her role. She was there, she didn't try to chew the scenery, she did her job as an actor/secondary character and it didn't bother me. I give her kudos

3. lost in translation? - you try to make a game into a movie and you want to put parts of them game in it? Not easy, a little cheesy? Of course, but fun? Yes, fun, enjoyable, and in the end it was a part of the story that wasn't as forced as it could have been.

So in conclusion, "Battleship" is a fun, corny, typical summer movie that I like but as you see a lot of people didn't. I think it is a guilty pleasure, something to be enjoyed by the few but annoyed by the rest. In the end I can only suggest this - go in with low expectations, expect a little over the top patriotism like in "Act of Valor" ( but not so heavy), and don't think about it. The movie is not without its flaws or questionable logic, but as it was said so well in another movie - "I suggest you don't think about it and just enjoy the ride"

OK, first of all, yes, this movie has more holes than the surface of the moon. Some of the plot points, tactics, technical gaffes, etc. etc. etc. are so bad and stupid as the be insulting. Seriously, if you are up on your military technology at all it's best to go to this movie seriously drunk so that you won't care about the dumbness.

That said, it's actually a pretty fun movie. And, yes, I think it's better than Battle Los Angeles or even the latest Transformers. Why? Because this movie didn't make the same critical mistakes of trying to have Acting in the damn film. Nothing slows down a good action flick like a damn love story in the background, or the hero dealing with his feelings or, worse still, putting brats in the line of fire. Battleship had none of that - just a bunch of thick-headed do- gooders doing what they do best and not really learning a whole lot about anything, including themselves, in the process.

Another thing I like is that there is an appreciation for the warships and the people who serve on them. The timing of the ACDC music for the going-into-battle scene is perfectly done. You can't help but smile.

The alien technology is actually pretty imaginative and the animation is good. It's not as over- the-top as Battle LA - where there was so much going on you get overwhelmed. But when the aliens want something blowed up, they do so with conviction. Mind you, some of the technical deficiencies of the alien technology will leave you wondering how these creatures managed to cross a galaxy. But try not to worry about that - the writers sure didn't.

The cast is OK. Neeson is decent as the admiral or whatever, and even Rihanna does an acceptable job. We're not talking about "Apocalypse Now" kinds of performances, but it wasn't horrible either. It was at least semi-believable.

Look, this ain't no "Bedford Incident". But it's a pretty decent way to kill a couple hours and snarf down some popcorn. All the folks griping about the technical problems - well, it's all true - but who cares? This movie doesn't pretend to be realistic. Hell, in the credits it's "Based on the game by Hasbro," so go in prepared and enjoy.

How this movie needed to be based upon any game I have no idea, all I can say about it is that my wife and I sat back, decided to ignore the obvious impossibilities and enjoy the movie. Doing that it was a fun time with my wife, however as a Science Fiction writer myself I still cringed more than I every want to admit.

What I will say in critic is something that Asimov and Clarke both agreed upon. "Never ask your reader to disbelieve more than one thing." Whomever wrote this screenplay really badly ignored that warning. Still in all it was a heck of a lot better than anything that the SciFry channel has ever put out.

A 6-star movie but I gave one additional for fun factor. It has battleships, aliens, explosions and cheesy effects. What can ask for more to spend a saturday night?