Battleship Review

Although the movie ‘Battleship’ was released a few months ago, I had a chance to see it on the big screen and wanted to share why I bothered to see it. The main reason I watched this movie was to see the Mighty Mo in action. If you are not familiar with the U.S. Missouri nicknamed the Mighty Mo, It is one of four Iowa class battleships and the last battleship to be built during World War 2 to support the Pacific campaigns. The Mighty Mo was famous for the Japanese surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 on the deck of the Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, near the city of Yokohama, Japan.                                                                                                 

Watching the movie was more a personal experience, for I had a chance to see the ship twice in my life. The first time was when I was kid. I had a chance to tour it when it was decommissioned. The second time was when the ship was reactivated during the Persian Gulf War when I was serving as a U.S. Marine. It was truly a breathtaking experience to see a historical battleship sailing the seas once again. It’s currently decommissioned in Pearl Harbor as a museum for all to visit. If you enjoy history, I recommend taking sometime to see Pearl Harbor and the Mighty Mo. We may never see such a great ship sailing the seas again for modern times no longer require such powerful ships.

Taylor Kitsch as LT. Alex Hopper

The story begins with an international naval war exercise held each year around Hawaii. During patrol, a set of destroyers encounter an alien presence in the open waters. The aliens came in response to a signal we sent in to space to identify potential life. However, the aliens didn’t come to respond directly but for another reason. And through hostile actions the aliens isolate a certain area of Hawaii with a force field dome separating the fleet, leaving only destroyers to fight an overwhelming threat. Eventually a battle escalates in the dome destroying the isolated ships and killing Stone Hopper forcing his brother LT. Alex Hopper played by Taylor Kitsch (John Carter) to take action using a decommissioned battleship ‘The Mighty Mo’.

Taylor Kitsch did a good job of making us believe he was a Navy officer. He presented a stubborn, know it all, risk taker LT. Who didn't want to be in the Navy, but had to prove something to his older brother Stone Hopper played by Alexander Skarsgard. They had a few other known actors like Rihanna who played a petty officer with a gung-ho personality. She did a decent job and presented some entertaing action moments. Brooklyn Decker who played Samantha Shane played a love interest to Alex Hoper provided great eye-candy and delivered a decent performance that extended the excitment on shore.

Overall, I didn’t expect much from the store line, especially from what I saw in the trailers regarding alien encounters. So I kept an open mind and enjoyed the CG presentations of the Mighty Mo and the creative ship to ship battle scenes which I enjoyed. This movie was mostly over the top action that provided great visual entertainment.

I give ‘Battleship’ an Imp Score of 2 out of 4 smiles.