Lots of eye candy but no story.
5/10
Author: jci1978 from Ballwin, MO
6 July 2013

Happen to catch "Battleship" on HBO the other night. Good thing because if I had spent the money to see it in theaters I would have been really upset. There are some  big names attached to this movie but in the end it doesn't really matter because there is no character development and by the end of the movie I didn't really care who  was alive and who was dead. The story is also very lacking. As others have pointed out there are some plot holes. Plus any similarities with the board game are mostly  coincidental. That being said the special effects are wonderful. Lots of explosions, nonstop action, and aliens. This is definitely a "don't think too hard" movie

*

*no story...no story ....Bordel il Y A une histoire ! et quant à l'expression "a don't think too hard story" ça n'a definitly PAS dû être le cas pour tous ceux qui ont contribués à mettre ce film en place pour que toi et moi puissions le regarder tranquilos devant notre écran de télé

C'mon, it's not that bad
8/10
Author: Freyguy6 from United States
21 May 2012

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

There may be some inadvertent spoilers in this review, so beware! I went to see this movie with my girlfriend expecting an action movie with (based on the previews)  really good special effects. After the first 5mins of the movie, it became apparent that Battleship was going to mix in some comedy as well. Both my girlfriend and I were  both laughing a lot at the beginning of the movie, and it loosened our original perception of the movie. Now, we were just there to have a good time.

For the most part, I was impressed. A good amount of the negative reviews I have read seem to not even be about this movie. I read one that literally stated, "Why did  we have to slaughter these aliens that were just trying to get home?" They were obviously not watching the same movie. These aliens were trying to use our satellites to  bring more ships to earth to take over the planet! They were piggy-backing on our technology because their communications ship crashed at the beginning.

They weren't  some well to do aliens who accidentally crashed and were trying to get home! This was an invasion! Another review said there were too many side stories... There were  literally two. The main story arc deals with the main character fighting the aliens, and then his girlfriend is helping an army vet who lost his legs and they get into some  trouble. That's pretty much it.

The one big problem I had was the super cheesy part towards the end when all of the old veterans working on the Mighty Mo are posing all over the ship and Hopper  gives them the mini speech about asking them to do more for their country. Plus, the idea of running a WWII era battleship with about 10 Navy Sailors and 10 60+ year  old vets is a little... unbelievable. I'm not 100% on this, but the standard crew for a Missouri type battleship is over 2000. That was just way too corny for my taste, but it  didn't take away too much from the over all movie.

All in all, it was a lot of fun. The movie had great special effects, the interplay between the actors was amusing, and at times, just plain funny. The story was okay, there  are a few things that were kind of left hanging, but this isn't supposed to be some artsy, independent film. I disagree with the reviewer who says that "It's an action movie"  isn't a good excuse. I say it is. If you want moving dialog, Oscar worthy acting, and a swath of top name actors... This probably isn't the movie for you. If you just want to  have a good time, have some laughs, see some great special effects and walk away from a movie with a smile on your face, go see this movie.

Easily surpassed my very low expectations
7/10
Author: David Froman from United States
11 November 2012

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

After all the negative reviews I had avoided Battleship until this weekend. I have to say it turned out to be much better than I expected. Yes, the script is simple, the entire outcome can be surmised by the time the opening credits are finished. Deep philosophical discussion is not what I was expecting. It's a movie where stuff gets blown up. And it delivers on that.

The movie never takes itself too seriously, the burrito incident makes this point early on. The actors all give a solid effort within the limited range of character development. There are some minor issues with reality, such as how the younger Hopper could ever get a commission in the Navy with his background.But since we are talking about an alien invasion movie, things like that shouldn't be looked at too critically. It was also pretty impressive how they shoehorned in the board game as  well. If you didn't know the game existed you can still watch those scenes and not be left scratching your head.

The 'old guys rule' theme brought out at the climax was way over the top, but it was done in a way that actually had me grinning and tapping my foot to the music as they  delivered on the whole premise of the film. Stuff gets blown up.If you want a film that delves into the complexities of the human condition in the post industrial world, skip this movie. If you want to see big things go BOOM! this is a great fun flick to kick back and turn your brain off to.