Battleship Review

A few days ago, I had a chance to check out the new action film, Battleship. As the only thing I had seen about it here in Tokyo were the previews, I had no idea that it was actually loosely based upon the concept of the Hasbro game of the same name. Once the Hasbro logo popped up before the title screen, I put two and two together and had to wonder if it would be visually entertaining, but a bit "kidsy" in the same way that the GI Joe film was.

 All in all, that prediction wasn't too far off, but it was still a really enjoyable film nonetheless. The massive Hollywood budget of the film showed...not just in the quality of the production value and excellent CG effects, but in the quality of the actors in the film as well, with appearance by Liam Neelson (Star Wars) Tadanobu Asano (Thor) and Brookly Decker (Just Go With It). Although the character arch of the main character played by Taylor Kitsch was relatively predictable, I personally still thought he did a good job of bringing the character to life in a believable (and likeable) manner. As for Rihanna's role in the film, generally, I'm not a fan of having singers appearing as serious supporting actors. 1) because they usually can't act all that well 2) because they are taking work from well-trained actors who can- and deserve the roles and 3) because I find it harder to get into the story and find my suspension of disbelief when they are there. I felt this way about seeing Neyo in Battle LA, and Ludacris in Max Payne and my feeling about Rihanna in Battleship was about the same. Even though I am a fan of her music, I would have preferred to see a well-trained and experienced actor in that role instead.

 Unfortunately, it also did have a few elements that were strong indicators of the age group it was aimed for. A few of the scenes were cheesy, the alien designs lacked sophistication (they were more or less just people with weird hands, reptile eyes, and mean goatees) and scenes would cut whenever someone said mutha fu---. Conversely however, I thought it had a few strong redeeming features over other big budget, special effects driven action films of the same sort. For one, although a lot of films of this nature utilize war and soldiers to move the story along, this one was the first I have seen that dealt with the psychological and physical after effects of war on those soldiers, and then turned around to show happicapped soldiers in not just a positive light, but as being equally capable of saving the day as the rest of us. Beyond that, I also thought that the depth of the strategy involved on both the protagonists and the antagonists side (and the fact that the antagonistic aliens we not portrayed as purely "evil creatures" themselves, but as morally complex colonizers) was also commendable. Having the Japanese fighting alongside us as a throwback with a twist to Pearl Harbor was also pretty original.

 Overall, even though Battleship is obviously aimed at the PG-13 crowd it is rated for, if the goal is plain and simple entertainment, it wins out. The film was quite a lot of fun to watch and the fact that it didn't try to take itself too seriously, make it all the more so. If you enjoyed the likes of other big budget, special effects heavy films like GI Joe or 2011, you will most likely enjoy this one as well.