Review Battleship (2012)
genre: action, science fiction
Battleship is a movie where you need to put your brain on hold. It's a movie purely made for escapism. That is all there is too it.But they manage to do it with some nice and likable characters thrown in the mix. One of them, our main character played by Taylor Kitsch even has some character development. Predictable and cliché. But interesting to see how it unfolds. Why do I think it is interesting? Well, he is an underdog that has to get on top. And who doesn't love underdogs? Granted most of his failure in life is due to lack of initiative and being immature but that is something that has to be overlooked. It's these likable characters that make you care and root for them. Now I do think it was a little strange to see the aliens not attacking or killing people directly. It was like they were programmed or told not to do so. It took away some real sense of threat and danger. And making it too convenient for the humans to overcome their predicament (at least in the close quarters combat). Still it barely ruined my enjoyment since it is made clear that the aliens are incredibly powerful and could obliterate everyone if they chose to. Which they do providing the best of what Battleship has to offer. It all comes down to these beautifully filmed and spectacular action scenes.
A lot of reviews have stated that Peter Berg has done his best Michael Bay impersonation implying Battleship is much like for example Transformers 3. To an extent that could be seen that way if not for the fact that I actually liked Battleship as opposed to completely disliking Transformers 3 (coming from someone who loves the cartoons, the toys and the first two live action movies). Are you serious? Yes, I sort of fail to see why Transformers 2 is disliked so much. It was more or less the same as the first only with a bigger nonsensical plot and even more focus on the humans. Everything was what you could expect from Bay. Anyone expecting a good and thoughtful plot, character development or smart humour should never be watching these kind of movies. Transformers 3 had a plot but action and event wise was all over the place. The one thing that made the first two Transformers so enjoyable. Proof to my point that plot in a Michael Bay movie doesn't make it a better film. However likable characters are important. I couldn't care less about what happened to blondie and Shia. And that is why Peter Berg's Battleship is far better. He knows how to make you care for the characters on the screen which intensifies the action. Bay used to know that in his earlier movies like Bad Boys and The Rock. But in Transformers 3 he kinda lost it.
One special mention I have to make is the clever way how they managed to translate the board game into a live action scene. Anyone who is able to make a board game come to live deserves some credit. Overall Battleship is flawed and ridiculous but entertaining through and through.
Labels: Action, Movie reviews, Science Fiction