Battleship - (May
18th, 2012): PG-13
Distributor: Universal
Pictures
Opening Weekend Box Office:
#2 with $25,534,825
Domestic Box Office
Gross to-date: $25,534,825
Gross Revenue: $240,834,825
Production Budget:
$209 million
Director: Peter Berg
While the questionable premise of Battleship certainly caused its share of
negative buzz over the internet, there was also a considerable amount of
skepticism concerning the other names attached to the project. Director Peter Berg has certainly displayed a
talent for large-scale action films with his work on The Rundown, The Kingdom,
and Hancock, but leading-man Taylor
Kitsch still hasn’t proven himself in a leading capacity (especially after John Carter), and his only real support
would come from Rihanna, who would be making her acting debut. So, it is no surprise that Universal engaged
in an aggressive marketing campaign in order to add legitimacy to this
positioned blockbuster and fill theaters, especially since the alien angle of
the narrative caused many to label the film as nothing more than a Transformers knock-off. With promotional partners like Coke Zero and
Subway, awareness was certainly growing in the lead up to Battleship’s release, but analysts were certainly wary over the
fact that the holdover success of The
Avengers was going to make this naval warfare epic’s hefty production an
even tougher hurdle to overcome. Early
critical reaction was decidedly mixed, and I wasn’t exactly floored by the
lackluster trailer, but curiosity definitely got the better of me and I was
resolved to try and enjoy Battleship.
Battleship
opens in exposition, with the narrative explaining that scientists have found
an extrasolar planet similar to Earth that is capable of sustaining life; so,
using a communications array in Hawaii, NASA sends a signal in an attempt to establish
contact. The diegetic timeframe jumps a
few months to the opening of the annual RIMPAC naval exercises that brings
together American and Japanese naval forces, where the irresponsible and
unmotivated Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) works as a lieutenant aboard a guided
missile destroyer and is trying to gain the approval of superior officer
COMPACFLT Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson), who just happens to be the father of Alex’s
longtime girlfriend, Samantha Shane (Brooklyn Decker). Alex’s reckless behavior has drawn the ire of
his older brother, Commander Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgård), who informs
his younger sibling that he faces discharge at the completion of the war games. The naval exercises are soon interrupted when
five alien ships arrive in response to the NASA signal and proceed to start
destroying naval ships and other military defenses, even going as far to erect
an impenetrable force field that separate Alex’s ship, the USS John Paul Jones, from the rest of the
naval defenses. Once his commanding
officer is killed, Alex is left in command of the ship, and alongside GM2 Cora
Raikes (Rihanna), Chief Petty Officer “Beast” Lynch (John Tui), and Japanese
naval officer Captain Nagata (Tadanobu Asano), he must find a way past the
alien’s superior technology and provide the first line of defense for the entire
planet.
Had I walked into Battleship with no former knowledge of
the names associated with the project, given the scale of explosions,
destruction, and all-out glorification of the United States Navy, I would have
sworn that Michael Bay was behind the camera, but as it turns out, director
Peter Berg actually improves upon the directorial trademarks that helped make
Bay famous. Even at its most
mind-numbingly insane moments, the action and energy of Battleship remains
simple and fun entertainment, so that you are able to look past the weaker
moments and still find yourself cheering when dozens of the artillery shells
utterly decimate an alien ship. And in
spite of some of the glaring plot holes and thoroughly confusing narrative
elements, I do have to acknowledge some of the surprisingly creative points
that, though corny, are still awesome; a cross-generational attack tactic will
definitely raise your inner levels of patriotism, while interwoven elements of
the board game will play to nostalgic memories.
And when it comes to the acting, while I would have loved to see Liam
Neeson earn more screen time, Kitsch does finally embody the heroic and
entertaining action star, while Rihanna plays the engaging, sassy, and
thoroughly likeable sidekick surprisingly well.
So, the reality is that once you accept Battleship as nothing more than a simple popcorn flick, you can
look past some of the weaker elements and enjoy the silly fun.
Now, I may have just said that the
action and imagination of Battleship
are able to overshadow some of the weaker elements of the film, and the
operative word in that assertion is “some,” because there are a truckload of
things that weaken this blockbuster’s overall quality. Granted, I knew that there were bound to be
some stretches in logic and coherent storytelling as a consequence of adapting
a board game, but with so many clichéd occurrences designed to drive the story
forward and countless segments of pure filler, even I have my limits of
acceptance. And with some truly awful
dialogue and throwaway characters (I’m pretty sure Brooklyn Decker was written
in solely to look good in a tank-top), it becomes apparent very quickly that
none of the screenwriters associated with Battleship
will be regular names come Awards Season.
Finally, my biggest gripe would probably involve the aliens themselves,
whose origins and motivations are given no explanations, and whose artistic
design is fairly shoddy once you look past the shiny armor and compare against
the thoroughly impressive pyrotechnic effects.
When all of these weaknesses are added together, the positive/negative
ratio of Battleship is near-even, so
it is largely up to you which side of the coin you would prefer to focus your
attention.
In my review of The Avengers, I theorized that it was
unlikely that Battleship would be
able to take down the superhero juggernaut, even in its third weekend, and it
turns out that my instincts were dead-on, because the naval warfare epic opened
at a thoroughly disappointing $25 million.
In fact, analysts across the industry, from those at The Hollywood Reporter to my trusted
sources at Box Office Mojo, have already
declared the film a huge financial loss, along the same lines of John Carter…looks like Taylor Kitsch
just can’t garner the type of mass appeal to overcome mediocre projects. The only thing that prevents Battleship from being a complete
disaster is the fact that the foreign gross has already gone north of $200
million, but in the face of the nine figure production budget, a $25 million
domestic opening still has the potential to result in a future write-down for
Universal. With upcoming releases like MIB III, Chernobyl Diaries, and Snow
White and the Huntsman, it is unlikely that this failed tent pole will
leave any kind of lasting impression at the box office. Still, I maintain that if you are simply
looking for some stupid fun, you will find yourself entertained by Battleship.
