User reviews

when I saw that Mario Peebles was in this film I expected it to be rubbish.

And that is exactly what I got. Poor, no, very poor special affects. I have done better making my own special affects on the pc, in fact I would say that most readers could.

If you watch this film then you must really have nothing to do..

This is certainly a time waste movie. Cardboard acting.

Heed this warning. Do not waste your time watching this.....

I am still getting over how bad it all was. even the jet scene looks like it was super imposed.

lol I will be amazed if someone gives this film more than a 5/10

I noticed that there have been two somewhat positive reviews of this movie and both of them have received heavy marks for not being helpful to readers. It makes me wonder if there is an anti-Asylum contingent (or individual) with an axe to grind.

Having played golf for years I am used to driver knockoffs that don't measure up to the real thing but that typically are far more worthy than most movie knockoffs created by Asylum. So it is surprising to me that I didn't feel that way at the conclusion of American Warships.

Sure there is a certain amount of bad acting and scripted clichés that might make you wince but it is not to the level expected of Asylum.

Most end of the world, mega disaster movies seem to eventually leave me thinking that they were fun but I've seen it before. In AW, there is an appearance of creativity that manages to present something that I didn't feel as though I've seen it dozens of times.

For free television and original programming, AW manages to at least put forth a plot that might have been really interesting with a big budget. Don't enter this expecting a "Transformers" meets "Pearl Harbor" and accept it for what it is and I believe you'll be entertained.

That's a giant leap forward for Asylum on SyFy.

It's a shame you can't give less than 1/10, because this is the biggest steaming pile of guano I've seen in a long time (and I just watched "No Body Found).

Appalling cliché-ridden script, pathetic acting, woeful special effects, about the only thing that I can guarantee if you watch this is that it will probably make your eyes and ears bleed.

As others have, it was obviously knocked together to try and get some business of the back of "Battleship", but the budget for that was $200 million. There's actually no budget for this on IMDb, perhaps they're too embarrassed to say just how cheap it was to make, because I've seen film students make better quality material.

Avoid at all costs.

I try not to make it a habit of down-grading the SyFy movies, as there are a few out there that are watchable. However, they have done a lot of cheap and badly written and acted movies, and for me American Warships is one of their worst recent examples. It does look cheap for starters, with choppy editing, scenery/settings that doesn't look that authentic(including the ship actually) and very slapdash at best special effects that further suffer from bad texture and heavy over-use. The script is often aimless with cheesy one-liners, the music is often over-bearing and at a sluggish tempo and the characters are little more than underdeveloped clichés(I have yet to see a SyFy movie character that I actually identify with). The story goes at a dull pace and doesn't generate any sort of thrills or fun, everything also feels very predictable in that you anticipate what's happening next constantly. And looking at the logic here, I would genuinely be surprised if SyFy did any kind of research before doing the film whether geographically and scientifically. Apart from a pretty likable Johanna Watts, the acting is poor, either phoned-in or too eager to please. Overall, a waste of time. 1/10 Bethany Cox

I could write a long review about everything awful that but simply put probably one of the worst films i have ever seen. Some films are so bad they are actually quite good but there is nothing positive about this film. The Navy SEAL's in Act Of Valour acted better than anyone in this film. the special effects are so bad it isn't even funny.This so reminds me of another rip off Battle of Los Angeles. Why bother i feel like i've lost ninety minutes of my life. Remakes are one thing but to blatantly rip off another film so soon after it was released and to put so little effort into it is a waste of time. There are so many films out there worthy of watching this is not one of them.

This movie may have come out at the same time as the movie "Battleship," but it had a lot more thought behind it than the bigger-budget movie based on a '60s board game.

First off, ignore the cast and special effects, and consider the plot: The USS Enterprise carrier group is sunk in minutes by an unknown enemy after its electronics are disabled by an "EMP weapon," barely giving them time to send out a mayday. Only a large debris field is found by satellite. The USS Iowa is in the area on her farewell goodwill tour, and happens to be nearby when an island whose ownership is disputed by North Korea is attacked by missiles and destroyed by the same unknown enemy.

The Iowa engages the enemy, which seems to be not only Stealth-enabled, but actually invisible to the naked eye, though they do appear when they launch their missile attacks. The Iowa is also attacked with the EMP weapon, but thanks to the ship's legacy 1940's no-computer technology, and the presence of a skilled team of naval historians on board to restore the Iowa to her WWII condition for her new destiny as a floating museum, she is still able to fight on in her not-inconsiderate WWII level of combat readiness.

As the captain, crew (and hesitant Admiral) attempt to maintain contact with the enemy until reinforcements arrive, they try to figure out who is behind the attacks.

The CG effects are pretty bad. The acting is not much better. But the idea that the low-tech -- yet formidably-armed -- Iowa might be the best possible fighting platform against a technologically-advanced enemy is a concept worthy of better treatment. Certainly better than "Battleship" provided.

Low budget, low quality and low acting skill! I hope this was shot on digital because it would have been a complete waste of celluloid! Special effects worse than most junior school plays. Pure rubbish. No doubt the creators are trying to bamboozle punter into thinking that this is the movie Battleship. Ships and aliens. Doh! Don't waste you time or money of this one! If this doesn't leave you feeling nauseous with disgust then you need to get out more! What a sad use of a fine warship with a proud history. Shameful! Seriously, if you have a choice of root canal treatment or watching this movie, go and see the dentist. This is like drilling without Novocaine.

This movie reminded me very much of those 1950's science fiction movies I grew up with. Poor acting at time laughable special effects a plot so full of holes you could steer a battleship threw but still enjoyable for what it is a bit of fun science fiction made on a tight budget.

Although the plot lines are similar I actually enjoyed this move far more than "Battleship" which I felt over relied on CGI. The Alien ships where simple and didn't take 5 minutes just to change it's self into some type of transformer.

Look if your looking for a summer block buster with massive CGI your going to hate this movie however if you just look at it as bit of science fluff it's enjoyable and quite frankly a damn site better than many science fiction movies made on the cheap.

In all of my stupidity, I thought this was the big motion picture that was out in the cinema so I bough the DVD. Honestly, I have seen a lot of movies, some better then others, but this is the biggest crap ever. Even the gunshots are fake and the actors move their guns back and forth like they shoot and CGI is added later to make it look like they fire it....

I had a deja vu feeling back when the movie "The day the earth stood still" came out and in the same year that awful rip off "e Day the Earth Stopped" appeared. Same thing as this, only 4 years later. The pure waste of money that went into this.....

An alarm bell should have gone off when I saw the cast line up.....all formerly successful movie stars that are looking to score another buck....regardless the script. Shame on them.

The actual storyline for American Warships was marginally better than the Hollywood equivalent, Battleships.

The acting, for the most part was terrible, but this only meant that the half decent actors looked awesome. Carl Weathers stars as a military general and puts in a decent performance, despite his only real sparring partner being less than capable.

All in all, I have seen much worse, and this didn't mess about with any of the fluff of getting to know the characters, and just got straight to blowing stuff up.

Best line from the movie comes from Mario Van Peebles character - "You're not going to sink my Battleship!" - Brilliant.

I recon a solid 5/10 movie. Not brilliant but actually not bad either.

This, I laughingly use the term "film", is a disgrace to the Iowa class Battleship!!! There is nothing special about the special effects. I have seen cartoons with better story lines. The acting was a joke, and the director....director, couldn't direct a grade school play let alone a movie. The only positive in this fiasco was some shots of the USS Iowa from the air. There were some very nice shots of the historical battle wagon. The only reason this movie was made was to advertise the fact that the "Big Stick" is on her way to being turned into a museum. Though i am not sure that making a terrible film was the best way to get that point out to the general public. But what can you do?

I kind of got suckered into this one so take this as a word of warning. I thought this was a documentary my room mate downloaded (off Amazon.com btw, just for the record) but I quickly found out it was a B-rate.

after watching this I did a little research and discovered that this is a "Mockbuster" from the same studio that brought us "Battle of Los Angeles" last year [2011] not to be confused with "Battle: Los Angeles" the blockbuster that came out at almost (if not) exactly the same time. They get the directory of upcoming summer big budget films and throw together a spoof of the concept on a shoe string budget and release it at the same time.

I wasn't around for this one but last year they put the Battle of Los Angeles on TV during the release week so I assume this went the same way when BattleShip came out.

First things first, this is a B-rate move. If you are watching this expecting the same experience as the blockbuster then you need to go back and read the Mockbuster paragraph; this movie is poorly made but that's what makes it so fun to watch. The acting sucks, the visuals look like they where made by a class of graphics design students and the audio is balanced for TV.

This isn't to say its a bad-bad movie in fact its rolls the odometer back around to good its so cheesy. After I got the obligatory "Oh God" out of the way I sat down to watch the whole thing with a smirk once I knew what it was. I'm just glad I didn't pay for it and I wonder what my room mate was thinking when he bought it himself.

If you base your decision to buy this movie off my review I hope you don't pay more than $1 for this on Amazon or Itunes because its not really worth it. Wait a year or so and watch it when SyFi streams it for free. At least they changed the name so it wouldn't get confused with the real movie...

Warning! Stay clear of this movie! I rented this film at my local video store tonight. I thought I had rented the Peter Berg movie. In Norway this movie is called American BATTLESHIP. American is written in small letters and Battleship in large letters. The DVD cover picture is very similar to the Battleship DVD cover. It is a total rip off! It is clearly done so you shall think that it's the other film. Imagine my surprise when I pressed play and discovered this piece of sh..! Bad acting, lame filming and hopeless special effects. If only it had been done on purpose it would be funny. Watching this movie was a total waste of good chips and time. Too bad I have to give it one star. Should have been zero! :(

There can be many bad things to say about the film after watching Act of Valor and Battleship over the past few months. To list a few: stereo type navy seals, poor CGI and special effect, inaccurate uniform on non-essential roles, poor research on weapon systems on board...etc. However given the lack of budget for this movie it is an understandably foreseeable outcome.

Overall I think it can be worst, especially if you have seen Moby Dick (2010) in the past. At least the movie is shooting on board the real battleship rather than some mock up set inside a studio. For that I'd given the movie an extra star.

Rating 2/10. Pretty bad movie, special effect and storyline, however at least you get to see the real Iwoa Class Battleship.

Some individuals have not looked upon this movie very favorably for many reasons. However, I'm retired military and can relate favorably to much of what was depicted in this movie. Having electrical circuits, electronics, and all things run by computer chips can be destroyed by EMP or electronic magnetic pulse unless they are hardened. It is also true that a nuclear air blast will usually do the trick. One reason the USS Iowa was able to still function was it was a WWII ship and did not have a nuclear engine and didn't have to rely on electronic circuitry to fire it's guns, although it initially did have it but didn't need it operate its guns.

Some folks got turned off by the science fiction part of it. But it was presented naturally and puzzled the crew, the National Military Control Center and the President. If there was any fault that center was only manned by a Lt Gen, the Secretary of Defense but no one else. You would usually have 4 star generals of the Army, Air Force, Marces and a Fleet Admiral as well the Secretary of Defense, and the National Security Adviser.

Regardless the acting was very good, except for the Admiral that was aboard. I felt that actor was a little over the top worrying too much that the Iowa was a museum and a warship. The movie was great and well worth time to watch.

Although this is not the greatest production, the military part of it was true to form. The people who rated this low were either never in the military (and don't know what goes on)or their imagination of what goes on at sea suffers a bit. The creatures the US Navy was fighting were as realistic as others I've seen in similar movies. The acting was very good, but not Oscar award winning.

The sequence of events portrayed by the military chain of command appeared to be quite within the realm of reality given the situation presented. Orders were given and executed and a "retired" naval vessel was made to operate despite its aged condition. Sixteen inch main batteries probably should not have fired as they did after 20 years of inactivity, but then it's a movie and these things are possible.

It's general low rating notwithstanding, I actually enjoyed watching "American Warships." Recently I watched the movie "Battleship." It's a big budget blockbuster that has roughly the same storyline - an old American warship forced into battle with aliens. "American Warships," however, is much more exciting and even more "believable" - to the extent that any movie of this kind can be believable.

Here, the primary warship is the World War II vintage USS Iowa, commanded by Captain Winston (played by Mario Van Peebles.) The Iowa is about to be retired and turned into a museum, and it's on its way to the US from a good will visit to South Korea, when first a South Korean island and then the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier group (also in the area) is mysteriously destroyed. Was it the North Koreans? The Chinese? No one knows, and the Iowa sets off to investigate, while the United States prepares to fight World War III. The attacks continue on various military targets, the tension ramps, a nuclear attack by the US on China (and a return attack by China on the US) is imminent, with only the Iowa (who have now figured out what's happening) standing in the way. The attackers are aliens, trying to goad the world into a nuclear war so that they can take over. The aliens also seemed far more threatening here than in "Battleship."

Basically I liked this. It's pretty exciting and tense all the way through. Van Peebles was not too bad as the Captain of the Iowa, and while having a WWII era ship beating powerful aliens in "Battleship" made little sense, in this there was a plausible (sort of anyway) explanation as to why that type of warship could succeed in such a battle - the aliens basically knocking out integrated electrical systems to facilitate their attacks (systems that weren't around in World War II) so that the Iowa had the ability to survive the aliens' most powerful advantage.

Now, there are some problems I admit. First, by the time this was over I was getting very tired of the "Star Trek" type references. We heard about cloaking devices, and ships that had to "de-cloak" before they could fire. There were references to phasers and Klingons (not to mention the fact that the aircraft carrier destroyed was the Enterprise, and the main American ship was the Iowa - where Captain Kirk was supposedly born.) All that was a little too much in your face. I liked Van Peebles, but I thought the rest of the performances were perhaps a bit uneven (and I wasn't impressed with David Polinsky as Admiral Hollis.) I also didn't think that there was any reason for having a romance between Winston and Lt. Bradley (Johanna Watts.) I also found it passing strange that the aliens, who supposedly wanted to provoke a nuclear war, would destroy two of the American bomber groups that had been sent off to be prepared to attack China? Isn't that defeating their own purposes? At least I couldn't figure that out. The closing captions of the movie suggest that this is based on a congressional act passed in 2006 retiring the Iowa but making sure that it would remain battle ready, even as it serves as a museum. So the question is: "why keep an old warship battle ready?" This is the supposed answer.

Overall, though, I thought this was a pretty exciting and enjoyable movie, much better than its reviews would suggest. (6/10)