Critics scoffed at how a game about grid coordinates could translate to film. The filmmakers addressed this with a clever, if cheesy, sequence. Using tsunami-detection buoys, the crew creates a grid map of the ocean. They cannot see the alien ships due to cloaking technology, but they can detect disturbances in the water when the aliens move.
Hopper looks at a grid board and calls out coordinates like "E-11" to fire missiles, effectively gamifying the climax of the movie. It is a moment of literal adaptation that walks the line between clever and absurd.
The central challenge of adapting Battleship is obvious: the game has no plot. It involves two players calling out grid coordinates to sink plastic ships. Battleship -2012-2012
The filmmakers solved this by crafting an alien invasion narrative. The plot follows a lazy, reckless protagonist, Alex Hopper (Kitsch), who joins the U.S. Navy to impress a girl (Brooklyn Decker), the daughter of a stern Admiral (Liam Neeson). During massive naval war games near Hawaii, an alien armada arrives, responding to a deep-space signal sent by NASA years prior. The aliens erect a massive forcefield, trapping three U.S. destroyers and the islands of Hawaii inside. Hopper is forced to take command when senior officers are killed, leading a desperate fight for survival.
The story follows Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), a reckless and undisciplined young man who joins the U.S. Navy to impress his girlfriend, Samantha Shane (Brooklyn Decker), and appease his older brother, Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgård), a Naval Commander. Despite his potential, Alex is on the verge of being discharged due to insubordination during a friendly naval exercise with international fleets, including the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force. Critics scoffed at how a game about grid
During the RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) exercises near Hawaii, NASA transmits a signal to a newly discovered exoplanet dubbed "Planet G." The signal is answered by an alien armada. One of the massive alien ships crashes into Hong Kong, while the others land in the Pacific Ocean, deploying an immense force field that traps three destroyers—including Alex’s ship, the USS John Paul Jones—inside.
The alien ships, housed in massive amphibious structures, launch devastating attacks. Through a series of tragic events and chain-of-command successions following the deaths of his brother and superior officers, Alex finds himself thrust into the role of Captain. He must lead the surviving crew of the John Paul Jones and forge an unlikely alliance with Captain Nagata (Tadanobu Asano) of the Japanese destroyer Myōkō to combat the technologically superior alien invaders. They cannot see the alien ships due to
Meanwhile, on land, Samantha and a retired Army veteran, Mick Canales (real-life Medal of Honor recipient Louis Zamperini), discover the aliens are using a satellite array in the mountains of Oahu to phone home. The narrative culminates in a spectacular final stand where the surviving crew must reactivate the 70-year-old battleship USS Missouri, manned by elderly veterans, to engage the alien mothership before it can signal for reinforcements to invade Earth.
In the years since its release, Battleship has settled into a comfortable spot in pop culture: