Go into this movie, not rooting for the humans, but imagine the aliens as a Federation species attempting first contact with a communicating species... Trust me, you'll like it.
HERE BE SPOILERS
This 'invasion' is clearly nothing of the sort. It barely qualifies as a military expedition. This is clearly a diplomatic, first contact mission gone horribly, horribly wrong.
My Evidence:
-When they land, they don't go for population centers, manufacturing hubs, or other militarily or logistically significant targets. They land at the site of the communication. This is what I would expect from someone I invite. To show up at the 'door,' not raid my garage.
-Throughout the movie, their standard ROE seems to be matching scales of intensity. They don't attack clearly military facilities until they are directly attacked, even going so far as to disengage from combat with proven hostiles. They show considerable restraint in this self-defensive action, and NEVER deliberately target civilians, even going so far as to inconvenience themselves to avoid it.
-Their primary mission throughout the movie is to get to the communications array and contact home. Considering the welcome, this is probably an SOS or quarantine order.
-Their initial contact is bog-standard first contact. The ship communicates with a sound, so do they. It isn't their fault it's too loud. They move to protect one of their own that's being fired upon, and specifically target to disable weapons when they do open fire. It's clear throughout that they don't want this conflict.
-Their weapon loadouts are completely insane for a military invasion. They have two displayed weapons: A short-range, non-guided sticky-grenade and a long-range, intelligent, precise roving ball (assuming the initial blast thing is in fact their equivalent of a horn). This is not what I would expect from an invasion, but it is what I would expect for a 'just in case' security escort for a diplomatic envoy; a crowd-control weapon, and something to take out snipers.
-That an interstellar vessel can be utterly destroyed by impacting one of our satellites (which are very fragile in and of themselves) displays a stunning lack of armor. Since it was their communications ship, this would be their command vessel in an invasion fleet. It should be fairly well-armored. That it is not so suggests that it is, in fact, either a diplomatic ship or a completely civilian vessel.
-The one and only unprovoked attack on human settlements is clearly-executed with a mission in mind. They are disabling the military inside the shield, preventing them from getting to the communications array. They disable the main highway for ground transport to the mountain, incurring minimum civilian casualties. Their second target is the aircraft of the hangar. The only people we see dying in that attack were shooting at the spheres. In fact, the spheres notably ALTER their course to avoid fleeing military personnel.
Ergo, they're clearly following a very Federation stance on their interactions. It's a fantastic Star Trek movie (if you can get over the fact that the Saurian vessels seem radically divergent from what you'd expect).
A surprising interpretatuon of the film. Originally my only interest was a curiocity bordering on the perverse but now you've gone and turned that into genuine interest.
I was NOT going to watch this film.. it had no interest to me at all. But your comments have made me very curious now.. you did a better job selling this film to me then all of their PR guys did haha
Battleship PR team --- TRIBBLE... not going watch
Review by stargate525 --- Ears perked up... curiousity now peaked.
I was NOT going to watch this film.. it had no interest to me at all. But your comments have made me very curious now.. you did a better job selling this film to me then all of their PR guys did haha
Battleship PR team --- TRIBBLE... not going watch
Review by stargate525 --- Ears perked up... curiousity now peaked.
Well, i saw Battleship just after going to see Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D.
And to be honest i enjoyed BS (see what i did there?) more than ep 1....
So yes. Yes, i think it is a first contact movie. The humans were just to stupid and gun-ho to realize it.
For a movie based on a game, it was a surprisingly fun and enjoyable film.
*spoilers*
The first contact concept only works until the "psychic flash" scene (why are aliens always psychic), where one of our heroes learns their true intention is conquest. Even if the aliens had a weird aversion to killing little kids and livestock.. but somehow trashing a highway and all the people filled vehicles on it is ok.
The first contact concept only works until the "psychic flash" scene (why are aliens always psychic), where one of our heroes learns their true intention is conquest. Even if the aliens had a weird aversion to killing little kids and livestock.. but somehow trashing a highway and all the people filled vehicles on it is ok.
But what do we actually see? We see a planet being bombarded and destroyed. The scene is very brief, monochromatic, and rather fast-paced. It also gets forcibly ended, so it might not have been complete. It's a communication that could mean a whole host of things:
-(the one Hopper goes with) This is what we're going to do to you.
-This is what we've done to ourselves.
-Is this what you think we're here for?
-Is this what you're going to do to us?
-How haven't you done this to yourself?
I think that Hopper's interpretation is wrong. This is only reinforced by the very nice shot we get of their prisoner as the others break in to save him. The alien is clearly terrified. He reached out to the rescuers for help. That they're this bloodthirsty race that will be using ORBITAL WEAPONRY is borne out NOWHERE in their actions elsewhere in the movie. That this is a warning or a question rather than a threat is, in my opinion, much more likely.
It could be, but you may also be giving the film more credit then it deserves.
I'll be the first to admit that. But why NOT do it? It turned a crappy popcorn flick into a good sci-fi movie, and if the writers had no intention of doing it, does that matter?
I'll be the first to admit that. But why NOT do it? It turned a crappy popcorn flick into a good sci-fi movie, and if the writers had no intention of doing it, does that matter?
I don't think it makes the movie actually good, though. You'd still have all the stupid moments in the movie - like the guy breakng into a super market to steal a burrito for a woman, and that woman falling for this guy... Or that they don't immediately start working on a plan to destroy that communication array. I am pretty certain they realize what the aliens are after while they still have their destroyer with those fancy missiles...
Maybe that flash was from a war the alien fought a few years ago, and he was having post traumatic stress flashbacks to the time of war, when he was captured back then?
If someone in DS9 was captured, and someone had a flash of them fighting in the Dominion War, or say Sisko using those trilithium gas torpedos on the Maquis colony, with no context, only that brief flash of violence and mass destruction, wouldn't the same conclusions be drawn?
I don't think it makes the movie actually good, though. You'd still have all the stupid moments in the movie - like the guy breakng into a super market to steal a burrito for a woman, and that woman falling for this guy... Or that they don't immediately start working on a plan to destroy that communication array. I am pretty certain they realize what the aliens are after while they still have their destroyer with those fancy missiles...
I also won't argue that there aren't stupid parts of the movie. But the burrito was funny, and someone willing to do that sort of ridiculousness...? (It goes to his characterization as a stubborn idiot, too).
My silliest moment was them powersliding the Missouri, but by that point the awesomeness of the badass grandpas was overpowering it.
I'll be the first to admit that. But why NOT do it? It turned a crappy popcorn flick into a good sci-fi movie, and if the writers had no intention of doing it, does that matter?
First contact all the way. The scene where that stupid LT and his equally stupid crew were poking at the alien in their cargo bay is a good example. The aliens broke in, DID NOT KILL anyone and just took there man.
I am an ex-Navy Petty Officer First Class and let me tell you folks something, NO ONE is that fraking dumb. No one just joinns the Navy at 26 years old and becomes an Officer. They need a college degree and a trip to OCS and follow on training. This idiot was too old to go to the Academy in Annapolis, MD. And further more a LCDR wears shoulder boards that have two thick gold stripes seperated by a skinny gold stripe which in turn are spaced by black on either side (awards ceremony scene).
The USS Missouri would have most likely ripped itself in half pulling that little anchor drop stunt not to mention that crew of 'Old Salts' would most likely have died of coronary infauction the minute they saw that alien ship. And for fraks sake, a foriegn military commander would NEVER EVER be given command under any circumstances of a US Combat vessel or any or any other vessel to say the least. And where were the JNAP callsigns? And I think OS2 Robyn "Rihanna" Fenty could have just left her cover in the water, it really was not that important!
I think this movie had potential, great effects but horrid storyline and cheesy Battleship the Game references! I wish the aliens would have won.
Remember, this is the Hollywood U.S. Navy, where the undisciplined jerk is guaranteed to make captain through a combination of attrition and his own hidden superior command skills. (Kirk in the JJ movie?)
As for it being a first-contact-gone-bad movie, that might make it a DVD hit, kind of like watching "The Wizard of Oz" while listening to "Dark Side of the Moon."
As for me, I won't spend a dime to see it, even if there was a half hour of nothing but Rihanna sunbathing.
There is, however, a pretty good repair montage, and the Missouri powersliding into a broadside, while completely preposterous, is kinda cool in the 'this is so ridiculous I've stopped caring' sense.
And spektre12, my grandfather was a WWII navy vet, and I've had the privilege of knowing several others. I honestly think that those guys were acting precisely like they would have in real life. I have never met a larger group of hardasses and reflexively brave.
And spektre12, my grandfather was a WWII navy vet, and I've had the privilege of knowing several others. I honestly think that those guys were acting precisely like they would have in real life. I have never met a larger group of hardasses and reflexively brave.
My Grandfather was a WWII vet as well and he'd be 91 by now. So, you can imagine my disbelief. I never said they didn't act like 'Old Salts' or that I thought it was uncool. I just just can't believe that they'd be around the ship waiting to sail off, in uniform no less. As far as the technical side of an old boat like that, yes they would be invalueble.
Well remember they were in uniform and present on the ship during the ceremony at the start. I doubt anyone would want to take them out on the drill with them, so I just figured they were staying on the old ship out of the way until they turned up again.
My Grandfather was a WWII vet as well and he'd be 91 by now. So, you can imagine my disbelief. I never said they didn't act like 'Old Salts' or that I thought it was uncool. I just just can't believe that they'd be around the ship waiting to sail off, in uniform no less. As far as the technical side of an old boat like that, yes they would be invalueble.
:cool:
I see your point... However, the Mo also served in Korea, and for a time in the Gulf. If could be that they were from those periods, making the old salts 'only' eighty. :P
Comments
And to be honest i enjoyed BS (see what i did there?
So yes. Yes, i think it is a first contact movie. The humans were just to stupid and gun-ho to realize it.
Now I want to see it again, with this perspective applied.
Well done sir.
I was NOT going to watch this film.. it had no interest to me at all. But your comments have made me very curious now.. you did a better job selling this film to me then all of their PR guys did haha
Battleship PR team --- TRIBBLE... not going watch
Review by stargate525 --- Ears perked up... curiousity now peaked.
That is totally my new signature! Thanks!
For a movie based on a game, it was a surprisingly fun and enjoyable film.
*spoilers*
The first contact concept only works until the "psychic flash" scene (why are aliens always psychic), where one of our heroes learns their true intention is conquest. Even if the aliens had a weird aversion to killing little kids and livestock.. but somehow trashing a highway and all the people filled vehicles on it is ok.
-cheers
But what do we actually see? We see a planet being bombarded and destroyed. The scene is very brief, monochromatic, and rather fast-paced. It also gets forcibly ended, so it might not have been complete. It's a communication that could mean a whole host of things:
-(the one Hopper goes with) This is what we're going to do to you.
-This is what we've done to ourselves.
-Is this what you think we're here for?
-Is this what you're going to do to us?
-How haven't you done this to yourself?
I think that Hopper's interpretation is wrong. This is only reinforced by the very nice shot we get of their prisoner as the others break in to save him. The alien is clearly terrified. He reached out to the rescuers for help. That they're this bloodthirsty race that will be using ORBITAL WEAPONRY is borne out NOWHERE in their actions elsewhere in the movie. That this is a warning or a question rather than a threat is, in my opinion, much more likely.
If someone in DS9 was captured, and someone had a flash of them fighting in the Dominion War, or say Sisko using those trilithium gas torpedos on the Maquis colony, with no context, only that brief flash of violence and mass destruction, wouldn't the same conclusions be drawn?
I must say, I'm rather enjoying this thread.
My silliest moment was them powersliding the Missouri, but by that point the awesomeness of the badass grandpas was overpowering it.
That quite frankly, makes it all the better.
I am an ex-Navy Petty Officer First Class and let me tell you folks something, NO ONE is that fraking dumb. No one just joinns the Navy at 26 years old and becomes an Officer. They need a college degree and a trip to OCS and follow on training. This idiot was too old to go to the Academy in Annapolis, MD. And further more a LCDR wears shoulder boards that have two thick gold stripes seperated by a skinny gold stripe which in turn are spaced by black on either side (awards ceremony scene).
The USS Missouri would have most likely ripped itself in half pulling that little anchor drop stunt not to mention that crew of 'Old Salts' would most likely have died of coronary infauction the minute they saw that alien ship. And for fraks sake, a foriegn military commander would NEVER EVER be given command under any circumstances of a US Combat vessel or any or any other vessel to say the least. And where were the JNAP callsigns? And I think OS2 Robyn "Rihanna" Fenty could have just left her cover in the water, it really was not that important!
I think this movie had potential, great effects but horrid storyline and cheesy Battleship the Game references! I wish the aliens would have won.
As for it being a first-contact-gone-bad movie, that might make it a DVD hit, kind of like watching "The Wizard of Oz" while listening to "Dark Side of the Moon."
As for me, I won't spend a dime to see it, even if there was a half hour of nothing but Rihanna sunbathing.
There isn't, is there?
There is, however, a pretty good repair montage, and the Missouri powersliding into a broadside, while completely preposterous, is kinda cool in the 'this is so ridiculous I've stopped caring' sense.
And spektre12, my grandfather was a WWII navy vet, and I've had the privilege of knowing several others. I honestly think that those guys were acting precisely like they would have in real life. I have never met a larger group of hardasses and reflexively brave.
But there could be...
Mustrum "Cheese Sketch Redux?" Ridcully
My Grandfather was a WWII vet as well and he'd be 91 by now. So, you can imagine my disbelief. I never said they didn't act like 'Old Salts' or that I thought it was uncool. I just just can't believe that they'd be around the ship waiting to sail off, in uniform no less. As far as the technical side of an old boat like that, yes they would be invalueble.
:cool:
I agree, it's a bit preposterous.