Ahhh, the summer blockbusters. Full of action, plot, depth, relationships, life lessons... OK, that's a blatant lie. Summer blockbusters are renowned for being films that are visual popcorn for the eyes and nothing else. But, why has it become this? Why should films released during the warmer seasonal periods be just the big set pieces for the film companies that make and release them?
Some argue that it began with the film Jaws released by Steven Spielberg - a film that was not intended to be a summer blockbuster but ended up being one of the highest grossing films of that year. Some might argue that since technology has improved so much over the past few decades, it's given filmmakers the chance to include more and more visual effects in their films. So, have visual effects slowly overtaken the importance of a good plot in a film?
Battleship is a film that unashamedly fits within the summer blockbuster mould and makes no attempt to hide that fact. The poster brandishes the subtitle, "From the creators of TRANSFORMERS" and the theatrical trailer includes a lot of guns and explosions, so you should know exactly what you are getting yourself in for!
The film follows two brothers, Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), who is the waster brother, and Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgard) who is the high achieving brother. Stone convinces his brother to make something of his life and join the American Navy, which is where Alex likes to use the weaponry and cause mayhem. And what do you know? Aliens start to attack our planet, create a forcefield of protection around them leaving only Alex and a handful of other Navy officers inside the forcefield to try and destroy the aliens and save our planet.
The problem with Battleship is that is boring. From the word "go", you know exactly what this film will do, exactly what will happen at each point and that Alex will be rewarded for his valiant Navy efforts at the end of the film (thus, not making him a waster anymore.) I would have labelled that as a spoiler, but it's so obvious that it's going to happen that I've not really spoilt anything. I'd even go as far to say that during the big explosive battle scenes between the humans and the aliens, I was still bored. Supporting characters are knocked off so quickly, that there is only really one target left for the majority of the film for the aliens to attack. And... because this target contains the protagonist (hero) of the film, you know that it's not really in any trouble at all, because he needs to live in order to complete the story.
Another issue with Battleship is the acting. Dear Lord is the acting awful! There were lines delivered like, "You need to get off this island now, there are ALIENS just off the coast!!"
OK, that's not an exact quote, but it goes along the lines of that.
And then there is Rihanna... She does OK with what she is given and she wasn't awful but if she is wanting to broaden her repertoire and extend her skills into acting, I really wouldn't have picked Battleship as the film to do this.
So, I'm keeping this review short and putting as much effort into it as to show how much I enjoyed the film... Not a lot at all really. I know that summer is a time when traditionally you are supposed to switch off your brain and leave it at the door, because the summer blockbuster is usually a braindead fun "romp", but I want a fun time in the cinema. I don't want a film that is so boring and predictable that I start complaining about the acting in a blockbuster...!!
*½ / *****
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