The first thirty to forty minutes of director Peter Berg’s “Battleship” might be the worst thirty to forty minutes committed to film all year. The acting, writing, story, and individual scenes are all so bad you squirm with embarrassment for everyone involved. Were it not for the fact that I have a responsibility to the very nice people at Universal who sent me the screener, I would’ve shut it off.
Which would’ve been a mistake, because once the aliens show up and the plot fills with war strategy against impossible odds, and the theme fills with tribute to American warriors past and present; what we end up with is a film I look forward to seeing again.
The set-up of the plot is rote, which isn’t the problem — the problem is the execution. A...