Battleship 3D

Hugely hyped, massive budget, and seemingly taking another stab at a genre which seems to have been done to death, could this latest blockbuster live up to the likes of Independence Day?

After many years of trying to contact life in the universe, one returns, but they are not the friendly fluffy alien life forms that everybody at NASA was hoping for. An exploratory force lands just off the coast of Hawaii in the middle of a session of war games between a number of the worlds best navy's. The invading force places a force field around the a few of the battle ships which blocks all craft from outside from attacking their position. The fate of the world lies in the hands of the men and women on one remaining battleship and its impulsive and brash commander.

When all of their systems seem useless against the alien force, the crew have to put aside their differences and use all of their natural maritime skills and wits to try to overcome the ultimate enemy.

It was hard not to expect Battleship not to be a repeat of the likes of Independence Day, Contact, or many other similar films we have been subjected to over the years from Hollywood, but this one actually was a pleasant surprise. The action was immense, the body count brutal, but all in all a very decent watch despite the length of the film.

As with this genre you expect over the top animation, giant battles and aliens conjured up from the depths of some whacky writers mind and this one, has all of those in heaps. What it also has, is a really decent story line, some excellent acting from some fairly unknown players, and even a one liner or two which had the audience in stitches. Throw in some massively, over the top American nationalism, a hugely unrealistic final battle and you have the makings of a very enjoyable two hour romp.

Canadian, Taylor Kitsch continues his fine run in 2012 following up his leading role in Disney's overpriced epic "John Carter" with his uptake of "Lieutenant Alex Hopper", a trouble making Navy officer who joined the core to stay out of prison.  Kitsch, gives a very decent performance and does a fine job of annoying Liam Neeson who gives a strong showing as Admiral Shane, leader of the American fleet. The fact that Kitsch wants to marry the Admirals daughter, played by former model Brooklyn Decker. Following her performance in 2011's "Just go with it", Decker shows, that although her acting abilities are improving, she still has a long way to go before she can be considered a serious actress and not just a former model.

Conversely Pop sensation Rihanna shows that she is certainly more than a one trick pony, with a superb and convincing performance as the plucky "Raikes". I hope that we will see a lot more of her acting talent in the years to come. Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano gives probably the best performance of the film in his roleas Captain Yugi Nagata, the mortal enemy of Hopper. The continued rivalry throughout the film is an enjoyable aside from the continual action that makes this film as good as it is.

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard gives a convincing showing as the older brother to Hopper, creating a good family bond when needed. The ending takes a lot of believing, but a very good film and well worth a trip to the cinema. Even the 3D works fairly well.

7/10