About.com Rating

Earlier in 2012, director Peter Berg brought his translation of the famous Hasbro board game to the big screen with the aptly named Battleship. Now Battleship comes to to Blu-ray in a disc package provides both the Blu-ray and DVD versions of the film, as well as several excellent bonus and interactive features. Keep on reading all the details, as well as my opinion on whether it is worthy of your Blu-ray Disc collection.

Blu-ray and DVD Package Desription

Studio:Universal Studios (Celebrating its 100th Year)

Running Time: 131 minutes

MPAA Rating: PG-13

Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Thriller

Principal Cast:Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker, Tadanobu Asano, Hamish Linklater, Liam Neeson, Peter MacNicol, Gregory D. Gadson.

Executive Producer:Jon Mone

Director:Peter Berg

Principal Visual Effects:ILM (Industrial Light and Magic)

Screenplay:Erich Hoeber, Jon Hoeber

Original Music:Steve Jablonsky

Discs: 1 Blu-ray (50GB) and 1 DVD (Dual Layer DVD9).

Digital Copy: Access to both a standard digital copy, as well as an Ultraviolet Digital Copy.

Video Specifications (Blu-ray): Video codec used - AVC MPEG4, Video resolution - 1080p, Aspect ratio - 2.40:1 - Special features and supplements may be in various resolutions and aspect ratios.

Video Specifications (DVD):480i DVD Video format, 2.40:1 Aspect ratio.

Audio Specifications (Blu-ray):DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (English), DTS 5.1 (French, Spanish). Access to DVS (Descriptive Video Service) 2.0 also provided.

Audio Specifications (DVD):Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 (English), Dolby Digital 5.1 (Spanish, French).

Subtitles (Blu-ray and DVD): English SDH (Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing), French, Spanish.

D-Box Motion Code Enabled (Blu-ray)

Interactive Features (Blu-ray):BD-Live Functionality, which includes My Scenes, and News Ticker. Access to pocketBLU, Second Screen, and Advanced Remote Control apps also provided.

Bonus Features and Supplements (Blu-ray and DVD)

The following features are presented in high-definition on the Blu-ray version and standard definition on the DVD version.

Preparing for Battle (11 minutes) — A look at the genesis of the Battleship movie, and the process of getting the U.S. Navy to jump on board.

All Hands on Deck (12 minutes) — A look at the cast with various comments on the story, stunts and working with Berg as well as the other actors.

Engage in Battle (7 minutes) — A short two-part featurette discussing to problems posed by shotting at sea, as well as what it was like to shoot aboard the real navy ships used in the film.

Bonus Features and Supplements (Blu-ray Only - All in High Definition)

All Access — A PIP commentary in which director Peter Berg pops into select key scenes in which he imparts interesting background info and trivia about the spotlighted scene, as well as clips of stunt work and some science facts that relate to the movie.

Alternate Ending (8 minutes) — An interesting look, in pre-visualization animated form, of an alternate ending to Battleship that ended up not being carried out to the final film.

USS Missouri VIP Tour (20 minutes) — An excellent featurette that takes you a guided tour of the real battleship U.S.S. Missouri, which is now a floating museum at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In addition to the tour, veterans that have served on the ship throughout its service years are interviewed.

Commander Pete (6 minutes) — Everybody loves working with Director, Peter Berg, at least according to this short piece featuring comments from cast and crew.

The Visual Effects of Battleship (12 minutes) — An all-to-short a look at how ILM conceived and constructed the CGI effects for Battleship. I think you will find it very interesting to check out what the alien ships' unique designs were based on.

NOTE: Also, make sure to catch the added scene at the end of the film's closing credits.

The Story

The search for extra-terrestrial life takes an excepted turn when a planet in a nearby star system is found to have characteristics similar to Earth. In order to see if there is any intelligent life on the "Goldilocks" planet, NASA constructs a transmission device and proceeds to aggressively send signals in an effort to establish any possible contact. However, as it turns out, not only do the inhabitants of the planet receive the signals from Earth, but instead of just answering with return "phone call" - they decide to answer in person with five scout ships.

However, when the aliens' communication ship accidentally hits one of our own orbiting satellites, the crash of the damaged ship results in the partial destruction of Hong Kong. This sets off a series of events that ends with a possibly unintentional, but deadly face-off between ships from the Japanese and U.S. Navies (including a miraculously re-activated U.S.S. Battleship Missouri), and the alien scouting party.

For more details on the story, plus additional perspective on the theatrical version of the film, read a review by Rebecca Murray, About.com Guide to Hollywood Movies.

Blu-ray Disc presentation - Video

Battleship has one of the best 1080p Blu-ray transfers I have seen. You can really tell where they spent the money. The photography is flawless, with excellent color, contrast, and detail, whether it be flesh, clothing textures, or lushness of Oahu, Peter Berg and his team did a top notch job framing, staging, and photographing each cut of the film to look its best.

Also, the CGI effects (primarily designed and executed by ILM) were also excellent. Many times, even in big-budget movies, there are inconsistencies in the CGI work which can sometimes take you out of the movie if they are not integrated realistically with the live action elements. Not so with Battleship - from the CGI motion capture of the aliens, to the detailed structure of the alien ships, and how water effects were drawn, you really get the feeling that the U.S. Navy is in real battle with an alien force.

When viewing the film on your TV, you will see black bars on the top and bottom of the image on both 4x3 and 16x9 TV and projection screens, due to its 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio. However, most of the special features are in the traditional full 1.78:1 HDTV aspect ratio.

Blu-ray Disc presentation - Audio

If your neighbors have a habit of complaining about your home theater system, you might check to see if they are going out for the evening. Nothing is spared in the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack. There is excellent balance between the main and surround channels, which are very actively employed. The soundtrack is also loud during the battle scenes, and your subwoofer definitely gets a workout.

However, despite the loud sound effects levels, the center channel dialog track is well centered and distinct. You should not have to ride your volume control in order to hear the dialog clearly. Also, in addition to well centered and leveled dialog, some of the more subtle sound effects, such as the sounds of the individual "peg shells" hitting their targets and echoes inside the naval ships' corridors added more realism to the listening experience.

Final Take

It must be acknowledged that Battleship did not do well at the U.S. boxoffice, and the film has been critically panned by many reviewers (including About.com's own movie reviewer, Rebecca Murray). In a similar vein, I also found some serious weaknesses in the script and the fact that the first 30 minutes of the feels like a totally different film (something about a beautiful girl and a chicken burrito).

I first had the opportunity to see a preview of some of the Battleship footage at WonderCon 2012, presented by director Peter Berg, and even though it was mostly uncompleted pre-visualizations, I thought the film had potential. However, when I started seeing some of the officially released trailers, I think it gave viewers the impression that Battleship was more of a rip-off of Transformers than a film with its own identity. I think this hurt the film going into the 2012 Summer Box office season.

On the other hand, once I sat down and watched the entire film for this review, I just tossed out the plot holes and weak script (including the ridiculousness of instantaneously getting the U.S.S. Battleship Missouri back in action for the climatic battle sequence) and really got into the whole scenario of "what would happen if the Navy had to battle aliens at sea" - and yes, there are references in the film to the famed Harbro board game it is based on - including having to find the enemy with no radar, and the flying peg shells that look just like the pegs used in the board game.

I also want to note that is this one Blu-ray Disc package where the special features are actually special. Even if you are not much of a bonus feature fan, the Blu-ray disc package is worth it just to see the USS Missouri VIP Tour. I wish this feature was longer and went into even more detail about the famed battleship, its adventures, and crews throughout the years. For more on how you can visit this famous ship, check out the Battleship Missouri Memorial in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

For the video, audio, and bonus feature presentation, the Blu-ray/DVD package of Battleship really deserves high marks, and it is perfect demo material to show off the capabilities of a home theater system. However, unfortunately, that doesn't totally salvage a film with a below average plot and script execution.

Components Used In This Review

Blu-ray Disc Player: OPPO BDP-93

TV/Monitor: Westinghouse Digital LVM-37w3 1080p LCD Monitor

Home Theater Receiver: Onkyo TX-SR705

Loudspeaker/Subwoofer System (5.1 channels): Anthony Gallo Classico Series 5.1 Channel Speaker System (on review loan).

Audio/Video connections made with Accell, Interconnect cables. 16 Gauge Speaker Wire used. High Speed HDMI Cables provided by Atlona for this review.

Review Bonus: Before Watching the Movie, Check out Battleship - The Board Game (About.com Boardgames)

How to Play Battleship - The Basic Rules of Battleship

Battleship - How to Win at Battleship

The Complete Guide to Battleship - Resources for Battleship Players



Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.