Battleship is a 2012 American military science fiction action film based on the board game of the same name. The film was directed by Peter Berg and stars Alexander Skarsgård, Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Tadanobu Asano, Hamish Linklater and Liam Neeson. Filming took place in Hawaii and on USS Missouri. In the film, the crews of a small group of warships are forced to battle against a naval fleet of extraterrestrial origin in order to thwart their destructive goals.
Battleship premiered in Tokyo on April 3, 2012, and was released by Universal Pictures in the United States on May 18, 2012. The film was a box office bomb, grossing $303 million worldwide against a production budget of $209–220 million, losing both Universal and Hasbro $150 million. It was nominated for six awards at the 33rd Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture, winning one for Worst Supporting Actress for Rihanna.
DETAILED PLOT
In 2005, potentially habitable "Planet G" is discovered, and a communications array to reach any extraterrestrial life is built in Oahu. There, Alex Hopper is arrested while attempting to impress Sam Shane, daughter of Admiral Terrance Shane. Alex’s brother, Commander Stone Hopper, forces Alex to join the U.S. Navy. Seven years later, Alex is a lieutenant aboard the USS John Paul Jones and in a relationship with Sam, a physical therapist working with wounded veterans. While Stone is a model officer commanding the USS Sampson, the rebellious Alex is facing a disciplinary discharge.
During the 2012 RIMPAC exercise, five alien spacecraft arrive. Their communications ship hits a satellite and crashes through the Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong, while the others plunge into the waters off Hawaii. Sampson, John Paul Jones, and Japanese destroyer JDS Myōkō discover a floating structure that generates a force shield isolating the Hawaiian Islands and the three destroyers, from the rest of the world, and jamming all radar and communications inside. Three alien warships surface and open fire; Myōkō is destroyed, Sampson is lost with all hands including Stone, and John Paul Jones’ command crew are killed, with Alex reluctantly assuming command. John Paul Jones disengages to recover Myōkō’s survivors including Captain Yugi Nagata, while alien drones destroy Oahu’s military installations and roads, ignoring all targets that do not pose a threat.
Hiking near the communications array, Sam and retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel and double amputee Mick Canales discover the aliens' presence. They encounter scientist Cal Zapata, realizing the aliens have taken over the array to re-establish communications with their home planet. John Paul Jones’ crew captures an alien which telepathically links with Alex, revealing their history of destroying worlds. Other aliens retrieve their comrade while another sabotages the ship. Its armored suit proves impervious to small-arms fire, but is obliterated by the destroyer’s 5-inch gun, and the captured alien's helmet reveals their eyes are sensitive to sunlight. Ashore, Sam, Nick, and Zapata recover his spectrum analyzer, using it to radio John Paul Jones that the aliens will contact their planet when the facility’s satellite is in position in four hours.
As night falls, Captain Nagata suggests using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tsunami warning buoys around Hawaii to track the warships without radar, allowing John Paul Jones to destroy two of them. The third proves too elusive, so they lure it into facing east as the sun rises. Alex and Nagata shoot out its bridge windows, blinding its crew with sunlight as John Paul Jones destroys the ship. The destroyer attempts to target the communications array, but is sunk by drones; Alex, Nagata, and several other sailors barely escape.
The survivors commandeer the decommissioned World War II battleship USS Missouri with the aid of retired veterans. The floating structure is revealed to be a giant mothership, but Missouri disables the force field while Admiral Shane summons fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan. The battleship’s turret carrying the ship’s last shell is disabled, forcing the sailors to carry it to another weapon system. Sam, Mick and Cal stall the aliens at the array, where Mick kills an alien soldier. Alex uses the final shell to destroy the array, rendering the Missouri defenseless, but the mothership’s drones are destroyed by Royal Australian Air Force Boeing F/A-18 fighter jets which carpet bomb the mothership, eliminating the alien threat.
Alex is promoted to lieutenant commander and presented with a Silver Star and his brother's posthumous Navy Cross. Admiral Shane promises Alex will soon have a ship of his own, while he is also invited to become a Navy SEAL. Alex asks him for Sam’s hand in marriage, and the admiral initially refuses, but invites Alex to lunch.