Cinema: Battleship 4/10
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Liam Neeson
Plot: a number of ships unite to take on an army of large, alien robots in a fight-to-the-death.
Battleship is definitely a typical, big-budget, popcorn-eating blockbuster. It begins extremely slowly, with a love story that doesn’t really move at all until the very end, by which time, there’s been enough bomb throwing and bullet dodging that you really couldn’t care less. The action sequences however are extraordinary; large set-pieces of cities exploding, ships sinking and aliens invading are all painfully entertaining - with next to no thought needed on the audience’s part. Despite the build-up becoming more and more substantial, the actual aliens are dull and generic, and not at all scary or thrilling. The film’s director, Peter Berg, hasn’t done anything of great recognition in the past with titles such as Hancock and The Kingdom (the second being perhaps better of the two, Hancock was forgettable) – Battleship will perhaps be the biggest of his career and you cannot fault the action sequences, even if they do become a little repetitive after 50 minutes or so.
The films real letdown was definitely on the writing side, you easily forgot what the main character’s mission was and by the time the film concludes, you couldn’t care less about the outcome. If the story were put right, even if it were an end-of-the-world type scenario (such as 2012) it would’ve at least made more sense instead of making a failed, Titanic-like love story. One of Battleship’s main cash-ins is pop star Rihanna, who plays Raikes in her first acting debut; her role in the film is purely to shoot guns, drag men out of the water and run through the boat as water cascades towards her, which, she does very well, but she wouldn’t hold a film with anymore weight (such as a drama or thriller).
In conclusion: Battleship as a whole is poorly written; its beginning and end aren’t done particularly well and it doesn’t quote or relate itself to the board game to any expanse. The film does however offer non-stop action, phenomenal special effects and a number of “how are they going to get out of that one” scenarios which is what most young people (for whom this is aimed at) want from an early, summer blockbuster.
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Liam Neeson
Plot: a number of ships unite to take on an army of large, alien robots in a fight-to-the-death.
Battleship is definitely a typical, big-budget, popcorn-eating blockbuster. It begins extremely slowly, with a love story that doesn’t really move at all until the very end, by which time, there’s been enough bomb throwing and bullet dodging that you really couldn’t care less. The action sequences however are extraordinary; large set-pieces of cities exploding, ships sinking and aliens invading are all painfully entertaining - with next to no thought needed on the audience’s part. Despite the build-up becoming more and more substantial, the actual aliens are dull and generic, and not at all scary or thrilling. The film’s director, Peter Berg, hasn’t done anything of great recognition in the past with titles such as Hancock and The Kingdom (the second being perhaps better of the two, Hancock was forgettable) – Battleship will perhaps be the biggest of his career and you cannot fault the action sequences, even if they do become a little repetitive after 50 minutes or so.
The films real letdown was definitely on the writing side, you easily forgot what the main character’s mission was and by the time the film concludes, you couldn’t care less about the outcome. If the story were put right, even if it were an end-of-the-world type scenario (such as 2012) it would’ve at least made more sense instead of making a failed, Titanic-like love story. One of Battleship’s main cash-ins is pop star Rihanna, who plays Raikes in her first acting debut; her role in the film is purely to shoot guns, drag men out of the water and run through the boat as water cascades towards her, which, she does very well, but she wouldn’t hold a film with anymore weight (such as a drama or thriller).
In conclusion: Battleship as a whole is poorly written; its beginning and end aren’t done particularly well and it doesn’t quote or relate itself to the board game to any expanse. The film does however offer non-stop action, phenomenal special effects and a number of “how are they going to get out of that one” scenarios which is what most young people (for whom this is aimed at) want from an early, summer blockbuster.
It's pretty much just Transformers on water, and it's not even that fun. There were occasional moments where it seemed like this flick was getting somewhere, but then it just fell apart and decided to get louder and louder. My ears were pretty much ringing by the end of that and that never happens to me at places, except for maybe concerts. Good review Joe.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree! Looking back, I found it a fun experience at the time, but as a film, it was pretty awful!
DeleteThanks for your comment and I love your blog!