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Canberra Today 19°/23° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Review: “Battleship” (M) ? ? ½

THERE’S still a dent in the starboard side of USS Missouri just below the main deck where a kamikaze pilot, later buried with military honours, hit in April 1945.

What’s that got to do with Peter Berg’s 133-minutes film traversing the same country as other films about Uncle Sam saving humanity from extermination or enslavement by space invaders? Well, the biggest name in the cast of “Battleship” may be Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane heading to sea commanding the annual RimPac exercises, but the film’s real star is Mighty Mo, the last US Navy battleship to fire in anger (supporting Desert Storm in 1991).

A boy’s big toy, perhaps, but one of the few elements of Berg’s film to command respect. To bring her out of retirement as a Pearl Harbour tourist site, a crew of ancient mariners comes aboard unasked and in a few hours gets her ready for sea, no mean achievement even using CG. If you liked “Independence Day”, high on any thinking-person’s list of really bad movies, you’ll love “Battleship”, which I found less obnoxious than I expected.

The cast is generally unremarkable. Taylor Kitsch plays Alex, rescued from a life of degeneracy by his older brother, naval officer Stone. Quick as a wink, Stone has three rings on his epaulettes and two-ringer Alex is serving in USS John Paul Jones under him. Alex is scared to ask the admiral for permission to marry his busty, blonde daughter (Brooklyn Dekker).

Liam Neeson projects a detached bemusement suggesting that he was thinking, what kiddie stuff baloney the script has foisted on me!

“Battleship” has one saving grace. It’s less awful than “Independence Day”.

At Dendy, Hoyts and Limelight

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Dougal Macdonald

Dougal Macdonald

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