BATTLESHIP

Universal Pictures

Rated PG-13

Running time: 131 Minutes



Click below to watch the Battleship trailer.



In Universal's Battleship, which is based on the game by Hasbro, screw up Taylor Kitsch is drafted by his Naval brother Alexander Skarsgård into the United States Navy with Skarsgard. While on RIMPAC, the Rim of the Pacific Exercise, a multi-national maritime exercise in which the U.S. Navy participates in - they encounter an alien invasion force.

While the movie was based on the game of Battleship, there were very little references to the game, or the references to the ads in which most of the audience would be more familiar with if they have never played the game. That seems a poor marketing strategy on the studio's/writer's part. Those of us who grew up with the game like me would want to see a little bit more of that. The ads of the game today are based on the movie. The references in the movie were not always directly related to the game. You had to reach for the references to notice the connection to the game. The most obvious references were the alien artillery that were shaped like the pegs in the game, although the artillery pegs were not aerodynamically launched. The alien artillery flew through the air like thrown knives and I am surprised that they did not bounce off the ships when they were flying like that. The scene where the movie used tsunami warning buoys, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather tracking system, to locate the water displacement of the alien ships so they can call out artillery strikes against the alien ships is a direct reference as to playing the game. There was one scene in the movie that had dialog that was different than the trailer. Frankly, I liked the dialog in the trailer better for that scene than what they used in the movie. There was also a scene in the movie that was based on a true-life funny video that went viral on YouTube.

The movie is a combination of Top Gun, Under Siege, Independence Day, Battle Los Angeles, and Transformers. While the story is pretty standard, my favorite parts of the movie deal with the Naval exercise and the Naval ships themselves. Seeing the close-in weapon systems (CIWS) being used for the shipboard point-defense against the alien artillery was awesome. It was great seeing the old battleship U.S.S. Missouri and the old salt Navy men who had crewed the Missouri during World War II.  It was especially great since battleships are now considered obsolete because they are too expensive to operate, as well as battleships having been surpassed by aircraft carriers as being the leading capital ships for the Navy.

A touching subplot, which gives a sense of realism to the movie, deals with the wounded warriors and the therapy they must go through. Kitsch's girlfriend Brooklyn Decker - who also unfortunately for Kitsch just happens to be the daughter of Kitsch's commanding officer Admiral Liam Neeson - is a therapist who gives therapy to real-life wounded warrior bi-lateral amputee Gregory D. Gadson in Oahu. Unfortunately, Admiral Neeson and most of the fleet were caught outside the alien force field and Neeson was not involved in fighting the aliens. This was a disappointment as I was expecting Neeson to be heavily involved in the action, one commander of our fleet against the commander of the alien fleet. Having some of the alien devastation taking place in Hong Kong adds to the scope of the movie, while news clips and footage of President Barack Obama, as well as the use of actual Naval personnel as extras to the movie added to the realism of the movie. Although, Peter MacNicol's brief appearance as the U.S. Secretary of Defense did not add to the political realism to me. Special thanks was given to the United States Department of Defense at the end of the movie.

This was singer Rihanna's acting debut. While I have never heard her music, Rihanna did pretty good as a Gunner's Mate and weapons specialist who kicked alien butt. Her character was basically of a girl from the hood who had joined the Navy and fired some big guns on both of the small boats and being on gun control on the big ships. Having wounded warrior Gadson also kicking alien butt in the movie was also fun to see. This was basically Kitsch's movie, so having Kitsch give up command of his ship over to his soccer rival Captain Tadanobu Asano, while understandable, bothered me. Also, I am not sure if that is legal to give up command of your ship like that in the Navy.

The plot of the alien invasion was too similar to Independence Day. Alien ships arrive from space and start to cause havoc, mostly with the Naval forces while trying to control communications. The aliens were too humanoid to me for the aliens to be scary enough as a threat, the aliens were just big and mean. The aliens weapons were scarier and more destructive than the aliens themselves. The alien ships were more like submersibles instead of aircraft as the alien ships hopscotched across the ocean. However the alien ships hopscotching along the ocean allowed the alien ships to be targeted like in the game. 

At the end of the movie, there is a scene at the end of the end credits. This is the longest after credits scene that I have ever seen. I am not sure if this scene was just a nice tag to the movie, or a hint of what the sequel will be.

This was also the first time that I saw Universal's 100th anniversary logo. I thought the new introduction logo was cool.

Rated PG-13 for violence. Running time: 131 Minutes.

Click below to watch another trailer of Battleship.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

ACT OF VALOR

Relativity Media

Rated R

Running Time 111 Minutes



Click below to watch the trailer of Act of Valor.



In Relativity Media's Act of Valor, a Navy Seal team goes on a personnel recovery mission to recover an abducted CIA agent Roselyn Sanchez. The SEALs then search around the world for the terrorists responsible for Sanchez's kidnapping before the terrorists bring their terrorism back home to our country America.

Using active duty U.S. Navy SEALs as the Seal team makes the tactics and action of the SEALs incredibly real. We get to see the weapons and equipment the SEALs currently use on combat deployment, as well as seeing the SEALSs support equipment and their support personnel. The use of the Special Operations Craft-Riverine warboats with active duty Special Warfare Combatant-craft Crewmen, or SWCC, was my favorite part of the movie - especially the way the warboats came charging in for the hot extraction of the SEALs. The film took two years to make as the producers had to work around the SEALs deployments. Watching the SEALs in action made me appreciate the SEALs more for all of the sacrifices the SEALs go through for protecting our country - especially when you consider the SEALs motto is "The only easy day was yesterday."

With the movie having assistance from U.S. Navy personnel and the Naval Special Warfare Command, I can appreciate that this movie is an authentic action film as the SEALs, while in the process of making the film, would not do anything in the movie that was not real and authentic - like the infiltration scenes of their objective areas. I am glad they had water operations that the SEALs were able to do in the movie, since they are Navy SEALs. A lot of the SEALs action scenes were first person shooter scenes where you see through the eyes of the SEAL as they look for targets, especially during night vision scenes. It was great seeing the uploaded camera feed from the UAV for the SEALs to use for intelligence. In other movies, this kind of information appears to come from satellite reconnaissance imagery. This kind of information coming from UAV's is much more believable. The graphics of the locations around the world was a nice idea. Then the graphics would then zoom into the location of the scene - but would sometimes zoom in the opposite direction than what you would expect, which was disorientating.

Having the computer graphics of the team members records makes for a cool introductions, but outside of the team leaders, you do not get to know the team as people - and even then, it was hard for me to tell the leaders apart, since they both looked and sounded alike and had no characterization, except for the fact that one was going to be a father. His story and family life was the basis for the framing story in their civilian lives, as their spouses and children sacrifice so much to support them. The SEALs acting, when they were acting instead of being SEALS, was not that great - but then they are SEALs and not actors. Alex Veadov was more relatable to me as the bad guy than with the SEALs acting as characters. What does come across in the film with the SEALs are the SEALs brotherhood for each other - that they would die for each other. The fictional story is pretty much like it came out of today's breaking news headlines - especially since the story is basically an amalgamation of several SEAL operations.

As a Filipino, I was both proud and saddened that the Philippines and Filipinos were involved in some of the action in the movie. Unfortunately, such things can happen in places like the Philippines in the real world.

At the end of the movie, the audience applauded. The film also listed at the end of the movie the members of the SEALs who gave their lives since 9/11. Sadly, as of 2012, there were a lot of names listed of SEALs who gave their lives. There were much more names on the list than I would have thought would be listed. Considering how good the SEALs were when depicted in the intense action scenes in the movie on what they do, it makes you realize how many intense operations the elite Seal teams have been deployed on over the years to accrue that many causalities. No wonder the Seals have such an intense brotherhood amongst themselves. Over the end credits were pictures of Americana and the real-life heroes who protect our freedom.

"To them and those like them. Damn few."

Rated R for graphic war violence. Running Time: 111 Minutes.

Click below to watch the documentary of Act of Valor.



Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

Pancho's Movie Reviews