Battleship

Year: 2012

Grade: B+

Country: USA

Director: Berg

Review

better than i thought action flick. it is definitely a michael bay inspired film and i couldn’t help but draw the parallels while watching it. the visuals are right out of the bay playbook, as is the music. of course it helps that steve jablonsky does the music since he’s done a few michael bay movies (transformers, island, etc.) as well. peter berg is the actual director (though michael bay should get some kind of kick back if the film does well) – you’d recognize him as an actor, but he’s done some direction (hancock, friday night lights, kingdom) as well. he’s a more political guy than michael bay so he’s a good choice for the film since it actually has some political undertones. there’s not a lot of political stuff in there, but it does work in some semi pan-nationalism and commentary on the costs of war. it has some stuff that is vaguely reminiscent of “the best years of our lives.” in this case, the harold russell character is played by gregory d. gadson who is a soldier who lost both this legs from the knee down.
of course the majority of the film is action stuff and it does that pretty well. it’s over 2 hours long and doesn’t feel too drawn out. it also has some blatantly patriotic stuff that might normally ring as jingoistic, but worked for me here. a japanese captain played a key role and the bad guys in the film are aliens, so there’s not the twinge of guilt you might get in a similar film that is set up as usa vs. afghanistan, for example. good flick.

Watched in theater