Battleship (2012)
*** (out of 4)
Exciting "revisioning" of the board game features Taylor Kitsch playing a talented man in the Navy who has several attitude problems, which keep him from moving up in rank. This is all about to change when five spaceship like things crash onto Earth and soon four of them are surrounding Hawaii and it's up to Kitsch and his men to try and fight them. I walked into BATTLESHIP with pretty low expectations but it didn't take long for me to really warm up to the material, the characters and all the action that was going on. By the time the end credits started to role I must admit that I had a terrific time in the theater and while there were several flaws for the most part this was a very entertaining summer blockbuster. I think the film works best as a fun throwback to those patriotic action films in the 1940s. Seriously, the Liam Neeson character would have been played by someone like John Wayne and the Kitsch role would have went to someone like Rock Hudson, James Stewart or one of those types. Now, I'm not comparing Kitsch to those actors by any stretch of the imagination but it really seems obvious that director Peter Berg was waiving the American flag high and proud, which is something directors in the 40s were doing. This film has a rather incredible "us vs. them" mentality and most importantly is that the film has fun with it. The action scenes are some of the best in recent memory as we get all sorts of wild explosions, gun battles and countless other bits and pieces. One of the most memorable scenes happens when the alien ship releasing this metal ball of destruction, which is quite a treat for the eyes. The scene where it rips through a city is quite breath-taking and the energy level is off the charts. The CGI effects, something I'm usually negative about, were very good and I thought the creature design and spaceship design where quite flawless. As far as the performances go, for the most part they are fine. Kitsch makes for a good leading man and Neeson is also strong in whatever he does. I wouldn't say Rihanna and Brooklyn Decker gave "good" performances but they fit their roles just fine. BATTLESHIP has pretty much everything a good summer film should have and I was surprised by the fact that they also took time to develop the characters and actually deliver a real story. It's the story that really grabs you and brings you into the material and the producers deserve credit for that. It's just a shame that the film is being overlooked by so many, probably because it's based on a board game.
*** (out of 4)
Exciting "revisioning" of the board game features Taylor Kitsch playing a talented man in the Navy who has several attitude problems, which keep him from moving up in rank. This is all about to change when five spaceship like things crash onto Earth and soon four of them are surrounding Hawaii and it's up to Kitsch and his men to try and fight them. I walked into BATTLESHIP with pretty low expectations but it didn't take long for me to really warm up to the material, the characters and all the action that was going on. By the time the end credits started to role I must admit that I had a terrific time in the theater and while there were several flaws for the most part this was a very entertaining summer blockbuster. I think the film works best as a fun throwback to those patriotic action films in the 1940s. Seriously, the Liam Neeson character would have been played by someone like John Wayne and the Kitsch role would have went to someone like Rock Hudson, James Stewart or one of those types. Now, I'm not comparing Kitsch to those actors by any stretch of the imagination but it really seems obvious that director Peter Berg was waiving the American flag high and proud, which is something directors in the 40s were doing. This film has a rather incredible "us vs. them" mentality and most importantly is that the film has fun with it. The action scenes are some of the best in recent memory as we get all sorts of wild explosions, gun battles and countless other bits and pieces. One of the most memorable scenes happens when the alien ship releasing this metal ball of destruction, which is quite a treat for the eyes. The scene where it rips through a city is quite breath-taking and the energy level is off the charts. The CGI effects, something I'm usually negative about, were very good and I thought the creature design and spaceship design where quite flawless. As far as the performances go, for the most part they are fine. Kitsch makes for a good leading man and Neeson is also strong in whatever he does. I wouldn't say Rihanna and Brooklyn Decker gave "good" performances but they fit their roles just fine. BATTLESHIP has pretty much everything a good summer film should have and I was surprised by the fact that they also took time to develop the characters and actually deliver a real story. It's the story that really grabs you and brings you into the material and the producers deserve credit for that. It's just a shame that the film is being overlooked by so many, probably because it's based on a board game.