Saw it tonight. Surprisingly good entertainment. It isn't going to beat Avengers for best summer action movie of 2012, but it's a better movie than I expected. Short plot summary: We dumb humans send a message to a planet in deep space that we think might be inhabited. It is and they show up. They have a bit of bad luck on their entry into Earth's atmosphere and therefore need to capture the Hawaiian Islands (this actually does make sense). One screw-up Navy officer (Taylor Kitsch) winds up in command of a destroyer that narrowly escapes intact from combat with one of the aliens. He has to pull his rag-tag team of officers together to wage war with the invaders but, just when he learns what the aliens' objective is, things go from bad to worse... Let me just say this: the last act of this film is COMPLETELY ABSURD. But, it's a testament to how well the first two acts were executed that I was willing to smile and go with it. Sometimes you just have to say, yes, in the world of the movie, the kind of thing that happens could happen. The actions beats are pretty good. The aliens, when stripped of their armor, look AMAZINGLY like Uncle Albert. There are several points where you might want to applaud; there are also a couple of "oh, shit" moments. I'm not too sold on Kitsch as leading man, but he's earnest and the rest of the cast is decent, the very beautiful Brooklyn Decker (as the lead's girlfriend) and the always reliable Liam Neeson (as her father who is, of course, also admiral of the fleet) being especially notable. If you like to watch warships slug it out, there is some great Navy porn in this one. The visual effects were good throughout, especially impressive as a lot of it involves water. I did note several concepts--ahem--borrowed from other movies (like Independence Day, Star Trek: First Contact, the recent Star Trek, Alien) but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the film. Oh, and there's a bit after the credits, too. My bottom line: surprisingly entertaining if completely absurd. 6/10
I don't know, man. Normally I trust Paladin implicitly on movie reviews, but after looking at several early reviews of this one I have never seen so many one star reviews of a movie from different people in my entire life, complete with explanations as to why that just made me cringe. I'm going to have to think about this one before sinking any time or cash into it. Maybe let it run through the weekend and see the reviews- I love me some good Navy heavy iron porn as much as anyone, but for cryin' out loud the story has to be there at least a little bit. Oh, and people who shoplift in the Navy don't get promoted to O-5 OR screen for command. In my first squadron we had a lieutenant get caught stealing a fucking magazine from the exchange- he went to Admiral's Mast and got admin sepped from the Navy. (Read: kicked out).
There is a 10 minute sequence in the movie that has some connection to that--you almost don't realize it until it's well under way--and, honest to God, it works. I don't want to give away plot points, but it involves the protagonist's destroyer using an "unconventional" system of targeting in order to fire on the enemy ships. This system has a basis in real life, although, realistically, I don't think it would be fine-grained enough to be used as it is in the film. Still, it's a gripping sequence.
The Navy doesn't tolerate screw up officers too much. We had four officers on my ship get restricted to the ship at a port because one of them (my own cunt officer, no less) decided to break from her group and come back to the ship drunk--alone. People grumbled about it only being a two-day restriction and officers getting special treatment, but those kinds of things stay on an officer's track record forever.
The only way I would see a movie based on this game is if these two kids fight to the death. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrHs8CWDzmc
I don't know. I've read some real life stories about guys like that as recently as the Vietnam War. Guys drafted to fight that had been complete screwups in civilian life, undisciplined, uncontrollable soldiers in training, but then when the shooting started they managed to not only pull it together but to be damned competent and heroic. I recall some award winning picture from the Vietnam War that featured a soldier that met just that description looking back over his shoulder into the camera of the photographer while both he and the photographer are pinned down by communist gunfire. The soldier went on to be awarded virtually every medal that the U.S. gives out. I don't think that occurrs as much in the modern military since it is all voluntary the people who join are less likely to be routine troublemakers.
Saw this today. Yes, it was your typical big, dumb action blockbuster. Pretty much Star Trek with Navy ships. The motivation of the aliens is never really made clear. I want to give the 3rd act a lot of slack because of how it portrays a certain group of individuals.
So we send a message to a possibly inhabited planet in Deep Space. And they so up weeks later? Sure, that means they've got FTL drives on their ships, but it also means that we've now mastered FTL communications!
Actually, it's not altogether clear, but it appears to be years later. The main character is not even in the Navy when the message is sent, and is an officer on a ship by the time the baddies show up. I believe that is the case in the movie. It's also integral to the plot because the aliens need to capture the facility that transmits the signal.
I think the whole communications thing was just another plot point (of many) that the audience was not supposed to think too much about. Almost none of it holds up to scrutiny whatsoever.
Clearly, the plot requires (1) that the aliens have some immediate goal [calling for reinforcements] and (2) that some means exists for the good guys to thwart that goal [survive the battle at sea and destroy the station]. Thus, the aliens capture the Oahu transmission station and the humans have to destroy it all costs. I thought this was straight out of First Contact: where the Borg build their inter-plexing beacon. The plot makes "enough" sense in that it holds together within its own logic. But if you're not willing to put up with a little silliness, this movie is definitely not for you...
Don't get me wrong, it was okay and entertaining enough for what it was. However, it's not something I would probably ever watch again.
Does Brooklyn Decker get nekkid? Something like that would allow me to more easily suspend my disbelief...
I might acquire the Blu-Ray just for the VFX/Navy porn, but I essentially agree with you: it's an enjoyable-enough one-time-watch, not a classic you're going to spin once a year.
When it comes out on DVD, I should be able to glean some nice scenes from it for my Third World War project. I'm wanting to do the same as the "The Third World War: The Untold Story" video on YouTube but with lots of my own scenes added in. The thing I'm really lacking is scenes of what are clearly Soviet Navy ships getting hit by missiles and bombs.
I'm sure he is. He's an Army Colonel. He's had to act in thousand of meetings and briefings over the years.
