While this reviewer really tried to not take 'Battleship' seriously and take it for what it was, it was hard not to when the film took intelligence-insulting stupidity to extremes, underdeveloped so much of the drama, didn't try to make sense and in some places even took itself too seriously. Using every cliché and character stereotype in the book, the dialogue is often cringe-worthy with lazy and overlong exposition and very clumsy and forced jokes. Where 'Battleship' falls down most upon are the script and story. Despite the fantastic special effects and great visuals, the set pieces and more action-oriented parts are heavy in stupidity and low in excitement and tension, pretty dull actually. The music is loud, bombastic and not much else with too much of one mood and it doesn't always gel, and the film is under-directed by Peter Berg.
The aliens exude no real threat or personality, also quite clumsily incorporated into the story. Being the fine actor he is, proved in 'Schindler's List' and 'Kinsey', you'd expect Liam Neeson to be a redeeming quality, he tries his best but he is underused and rather one-dimensionally gruff. Taylor Kitsch is a rather bland and uncharismatic lead, and Brooklyn Dekker's acting skills prove to be pretty limited. And it is true that she is very annoying and out of place in a role that has no real point to it. As for the rest of the performances, much has been said about Rhianna's performance. While the acting was mostly not good at all, the best performance does come from a very enthusiastic Alexander Skarsgaard. The sound effects are often thrilling in their authenticity too. It is a great-looking film, it's slickly shot with good use of locations and the special effects, by far the best thing about 'Battleship' are fantastic. In my opinion, the film failed at all those objectives. Was well aware that 'Battleship' was not meant to be taken seriously, was meant to be big dumb fun and that it was going to be silly.
Just for the record, this reviewer did know what to expect. All of this is squandered by very poor execution. 'Battleship' had great potential to be good, with the involvement of Liam Neeson and being based on a fun board game.
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