All at sea

The world’s Navy is taking part in some naval exercises off the coast of Hawaii when aliens invade. There are lots and lots of explosions. That’s pretty much it as far as a storyline goes – just think Transformers on water. Fortunately it’s still fantastic fun.

Based on a board game – boy, we never thought we’d utter that sentence in a movie review – Battleship is essentially a sci-fi take on the classic David and Goliath story in which Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna get let loose with all manner of weapons and explosives.

Cringe at the unfeasibly wooden acting and laugh at the unspeakably bad dialogue, not all of which is unintentionally funny. This really shouldn’t work but somehow it does – all you can do is raise the white flag and surrender to the film’s awesome silliness.

However, where the film really excels is in the special effects department – some of the explosive set pieces are nothing short of spectacular and the final climactic sequence is worth the price of admission alone.

So sit down, lean back and enjoy – just leave your brain at the door.