I admit to a guilty pleasure. I do enjoy a high-tech sci-fi shoot-em-up special effect showpiece. Transformers was fun (2&3 deplorable!) and as long you didn’t think too hard was an enjoyable spectacle. Battleship (2012) was too. There are plot holes you could sail the USS Missouri through and the acting was handled adequately despite the poor script. In addition it had the overall feel of a defence force recruiting puff-piece … this time for the Navy … all those beautiful young things and crisp white uniforms. That said, a lot of them died. The special effects and battle-tech were quite spectacular … if you’ve ever wondered what a destroyer being systematically torn to bits from the inside by a shiny high-torque rotary gear shredder might look like then this is the flick for you.
Throw in a geeky scientist who discovers his backbone, a double amputee vet from Aphganistan, a tepid love interest and lots of cooperation with the captain of a Japanese destroyer and you have a reasonable idea of what’s going on. The USS Missouri (a WWII battleship moored as a museum piece – armed and fueled no less) was brought into the action by a small group of former crew members now serving as ship guides … armed and fuelled? Really? The love interest annoyed me.
Great to look at and some humour in there too, the film is apprently based on the grid-based game ‘Battleship’ by Hasbro though I have to say loosely based … very loosely based.
I did get to see the trailers for the Avengers (yawn) and Prometheus the new effort from Ridley Scott. I got the feeling from the cinema audience that that was the film everyone is waiting for … it looks bloody amazing 🙂
Battleship (2012) screening at Dendy Canberra.