Early Buzz: ‘Battleship’ Is Splashy, Mindless Entertainment In The ‘Transformers’ Mold
On the one hand, Universal’sBattleshiplooks, frankly, kinda stupid. It’s an adaptation of a Hasbro toy, along the same lines as Michael Bay’s dumb (but occasionally fun)Transformersfranchise, and early spots and footage did nothing to suggest it’d be anything more than an uninspired, cynical cash grab.
On the other, there’s some promising talent both in front of and behind the camera:Friday Night LightsdirectorPeter Bergat the helm and hisFriday Night LightsstarsTaylor KitschandJesse Plemonsin the cast, plusLiam Neeson,Alexander Skarsgard,Hamish Linklater, andLiam Neeson. And while I wouldn’t go so far as to say the film looked smart, I respected that it seemed perfectly aware of what it was — mindless popcorn entertainment, no more and no less.
But all of that ambivalence was based more on the marketing team’s efforts than on the film itself. Now that the first early reviews are rolling out, however, we’re getting a much better sense of what, exactly, Berg is offering us next month. Read all aboutBattleship’s early buzz after the jump.
[Berg] is channeling Michael Bay at every possible opportunity, from the leery eye he casts on the female characters and the frankly-kind-of-racist humor to Steve Jablonsky’s horrific Zimmer Factory score (quite literally: the alien’s theme is a straight lift from “Tron: Legacy”) to the omnipresent teal-and-orange color palette.[…]
[E]ven the brains-off crowd will struggle to find anything to enjoy here. The film is so overlong (130 minutes) and sluggishly paced that the heartbeat never gets raised, and the effects never look anything other than plasticky.
Empirewas pretty disappointed in Berg, too:
Evidence, sadly, indicates that both he and his film are in earnest.
It gets harsher:
As insane as it sounds, Battleship could see you yearning for the character development of Transformers.
Quickflixwasn’t so into it either (‘an early contender for “eye-rollingest film of the year,'"), but were surprised to find themselves actually liking the board game connection:
Hey U Guyssays that not only did they not like it, no one else in the theater did either:
But it wasn’tallbad. Plenty of people reported having a good time, too.On the BoxcriticizedBattleship’s hilariously bad dialogue, but enjoyed it overall:
It may look like the kind of big-dumb project that Dwayne Johnson wouldn’t be seen dead near – and some of the time it is – but with a touch of charm, pace and wit, Peter Berg has created something sharper and funnier than many will give him credit for.
Digital SpyfoundBattleshipa bit lacking in originality, but fun nonetheless:
MovieWebreaches a similar conclusion, even though they though the action compared unfavorably toTransformers: Dark of the Moon:
Matt’s Movie Reviewsliked the VFX-heavy action sequences, though they found the script “tiresome.” They also seemed to like its “unapologetic pro-military stance”:
Urban Cinephile’s Louise Keller was definitely on board…
… whereas her colleague Andrew L. Urban found some aspects of the film “underdeveloped,” but liked the “superbly written, choreographed and directed climactic sequence.”
Like so many of the others,SFXthought the whole thing rather silly but had some fun with it as well:
Impressive effects sequences, ingeniously entertaining nods to the game and solid performances (not that singer Rihanna is actually required to act at any point) fight against a plot that descends into setpieces and cliché.
Battleshipdrew comparisons to Bay’sTransformersin nearly every writeup I read, which suggests that how much pleasure you derive fromBattleshipmay be predicted by your feelings on theTransformersfranchise. (Independence DayandTop Gunalso got name-checked a few times.) Overall, almost everyone agreed thatBattleshipwasn’t so smart, but those who enjoyed giant, expensive, explosive set pieces seemed to find the film’s action satisfying, whereas those who didn’t merely found the whole picture tedious. That divide is especially clear in the way some reviewers talked about the splashy climactic moment — either they found it audaciously over-the-top, or completely ridiculous.BattleshipopensMay 18.
