The film was originally planned to be released in 2011, but was rescheduled to April 11, 2012 in the United Kingdom and May 18, 2012 in the United States.[3] The film's world premiere was in Tokyo, Japan on April 3, 2012.
Plot
In 2005, NASA discovers an extrasolar planet with conditions similar to Earth. On the chance that it contains intelligent life, NASA transmits a powerful signal from a communications array based in Hawaii. Around the same time, the talented but undisciplined slacker Alex Hopper attempts to impress a woman by getting her a chicken burrito; the result of which sees Alex break into a convenience store and be tasered by the police. Stone Hopper, a naval officer, attempts to give his younger brother some direction by forcing him to join the United States Navy.
By 2012, Alex is a lieutenant and the Tactical Action Officer aboard the destroyer USS John Paul Jones, while Stone is commanding officer of USS Sampson. Alex is also in a committed relationship with Samantha Shane (the woman he tried to impress seven years prior), and wants to marry her, but is afraid of asking her father, Pacific Fleet commanding officer Vice Admiral Shane, for permission. During the opening ceremony for the RIMPAC multinational naval exercise, Alex gets into a brawl with Captain Nagata, commanding officer of the Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force destroyer JDS Myōkō; the latest in a string of incidents marring the young officer's career. Alex is given a dressing-down by Admiral Shane, and later learns from his brother that he will be discharged at the end of RIMPAC. Meanwhile, Samantha accompanies Army veteran and amputee Mick Canales on a hike on Oahu in order to help him adapt to his prosthetic legs.
A small fleet of alien ships arrives in response to the NASA signal. One ship collides with an orbital satellite and crashes in Hong Kong, while four others land in the waters near Hawaii. Sampson, John Paul Jones, and Myōkō are sent to investigate, but are trapped when one of the ships erects an impenetrable forcefield around the Hawaiian islands. The three destroyers attempt to establish contact, but are attacked by a second alien vessel: Sampson and Myōkō are destroyed, and John Paul Jones is damaged with the commanding and executive officers killed, forcing Alex to take command. Although initially wanting to attack the alien ship in retaliation for his brother's death, Alex is convinced to break off and recover survivors from Myōkō; this act prompts the aliens to interpret the surviving destroyer as not a threat. Although the forcefield is preventing the use of radar and sonar, Nagata reveals that they could use the tsunami warning buoys around Hawaii to track the alien vessels by their displacement. During a night-time battle, the aliens and the Americans exchange pot shots, with John Paul Jones sinking two, but unable to lock onto the third. An alien is recovered from the water; from this, the humans determine that the aliens are very sensitive to sunlight. Alex uses his ship to lure the alien vessel close to shore, where he and Nagata shoot out its bridge windows at sunrise. Both John Paul Jones and the alien ship are destroyed in the ensuing battle.
Meanwhile, a group of alien soldiers and scientists have landed on Oahu. Samantha and Mick narrowly avoid their detection, and run into a fleeing NASA scientist. Because their communications ship was the one that crashed, the alien ground force has captured the NASA communications array, and are modifying it to signal their home planet. Believing that a larger invasion might be imminent, Samantha contacts Alex, and warns him. Alex had planned to destroy the array with his ship, but after John Paul Jones is destroyed, the survivors are forced to return to base and acquire the only available naval vessel, the battleship USS Missouri. Although a museum ship, Alex and his crew are able to reactivate Missouri with the aid of the veterans preserving her. The battleship is able to disable the forcefield being generated by the last alien ship, but end up with only one high-explosive shell left. Alex uses it to fire on the NASA array, but before the defenceless Missouri can be attacked by the aliens on the alien ship, an aircraft from the RIMPAC fleets arrives and eliminates the alien ship, while the NASA array explodes, destroying all the aliens.
Back on shore, the naval personnel, along with Mick, are honored for their actions in defeating the alien invasion. After the ceremony, Alex finally asks Admiral Shane for his daughter's hand in marriage; the Admiral initially refuses, then invites Alex to lunch (by recalling the chicken burrito incident) to discuss the matter.
Cast
Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a US Navy Tactical Action Officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones. He wishes to marry Admiral Shane's daughter Samantha but however was waiting for the right moment to inform Admiral Shane.
Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker and Peter Berg promoting the film at WonderCon 2012.
The estimated US$200 million project was to begin filming in Australia's Gold Coast in 2010, but the production company changed location due to a lack of Australian government tax incentives.[4]
Starring in the film are Taylor Kitsch as Alex Hopper;[9][10] Brooklyn Decker as Sam, Hopper's fiancee; Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane, Sam's father and Hopper's superior officer;[11] and Alexander Skarsgård announced as his brother Stone Hopper.[12]Jeremy Renner had been considered for the role of Hopper, but with conflicting schedules, the actor chose to star in a Paul Thomas Anderson drama filming at roughly the same time.[11] Bajan R&B singer Rihanna makes her acting debut in the film, acting as a sailor.[13] Tadanobu Asano will also have a role in the film as the commander of a Japanese destroyer. Double amputee US Army Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Gadson plays the role of a legless recuperating US Army Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales.[14]
The film marks the reunion between former co-stars Kitsch and Jesse Plemons, who previously worked together on Berg's TV series Friday Night Lights. Berg said he loves working with friends and explained he knew how comfortable Kitsch was with Plemons, "I know that he’s really good for Taylor and he makes Taylor better. So, I wrote that whole part for Jesse." He added, "I never thought of it as a Friday Night Lights reunion. I thought of it as protection, bringing a trusted family member in."[15]
Actual U.S. Navy sailors were used as extras in various parts of this film. Sailors from assorted commands in Navy Region Hawaii assisted with line handling to take USS Missouri in and out of port for a day of shooting in mid 2010.[citation needed] A few months later, the production team put out a casting call for sailors in the same area to serve as extras.[citation needed] Sailors were also taken from various ships stationed at Naval Station Mayport, Jacksonville, Florida: USS Hué City and Vicksburg were two of the ships that provided sailors.[citation needed]
The film's world premiere took place in Tokyo on April 3, 2012. The event was attended by director Peter Berg, actors Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Alexander Skarsgård and Rihanna. Later on they initiated a Press Tour visiting Madrid and London to promote the film.
Box office
The film opened on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 in many countries outside North America, more than five weeks before its North America release, earning $7.4 million.[16] Through Friday, the film earned a 3-day total of $25 million.[17] In South Korea, it achieved the highest-grossing opening day for a non-sequel and the third-highest overall ($2.8 million).[17] It also set an opening-day record for Universal Studios in Malaysia ($390,000).[16] During its opening weekend, it earned $55.2 million from 26 markets, ranking second for the weekend behind Titanic 3D.[18]
Critical reception
Reviews of the film were mixed, leaning towards negative. As of 18 April 2012, Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, has given the film an average score of 43% based on four reviews,[19] while Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 48% based on reviews from 44 critics, and reports a rating average of 4.9 out of 10.[20]
Megan Lehmann of The Hollywood Reporter thought that the "impressive visual effects and [director Peter] Berg's epic set pieces fight against an armada of cinematic clichés and some truly awful dialogue."[21]Empire Magazine's Nick de Semlyen felt there was a lack of character development and memorable action shots, and sums up his review of the movie in one word: "Miss".[22]
Many reviews panned the "based on a boardgame" concept driving the film, although some, such as Jason Di Rosso from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National, claimed the ridiculousness of the setup is "either sheer joy or pure hell -- depending on how seriously you take it", while de Semlyen "had to admire [the film's creators] jumping through hoops to engineer a sequence that replicates the board game".[23][22][24] Several compared the film to Michael Bay's Transformers film series in terms of quality and cinematic style, with Giles Hardie of The Sydney Morning Herald claiming that the movie "finds the same balance between action-packed imagination and not taking the premise seriously that made Michael Bay's original Transformers such a joyride."[21][23]
^"$100m Film Deal Sunk". goldcoast.com.au. March 27, 2010. Retrieved July 10, 2010. ((cite web)): Check date values in: |accessdate= and |date= (help); Text "firsewis" ignored (help)
