One Minute Movie Review: Battleship

Well up to today, if you told me someone could make a successful action movie based off of a child's boardgame I would look at if as if you had flying monkeys coming out of you ears. Amazingly and inconceivably Peter Berg pulls it off by creating an amusement park ride of a film that is both entertaining and engaging. The way Berg works the elements of one of my favorite games growing up into the story is impressively masterful. Major kudos for making the impossible, possible. Now for the bad news; the plot has some pretty sizeable holes in it and the supposed love story, between Kitsch and Decker, is lackluster at best and ends up becoming completely irrelevant by mid movie. Taylor Kitsch, coming off of another box office disappointment, John Carter of Mars, is completely underwhelming as a leading man and is about as authentic in his role as Cubic Zirconia would be on Paris Hilton's pinky. Hats of to Rihanna, who gets an A for effort, and in time, may hold her own in Hollywood. Neeson's role is minuscule, but as always, he owns every scene he appears in. The remaining cast carries the film with some pretty honest and quick witted banter, reminiscent of the true, original Thing from Another World.  Perhaps, the most impressive aspect of this film is the tribute to our armed forces and the use of both Veterans and Wounded Warriors who play major roles. Any cinema that portrays our men and woman in uniform in the positive light, they so clearly deserve, scores major points in my book. The FX are sleek and sophisticated, adding to the film and not overwhelming it. As a whole, a cool way to spend an evening with my son on Memorial Day eve. 3 out of 5 Kernels; the Mighty MO does not disappoint.