Film
Battleship
- Action
- Alien contact
- Relentless
Battleship is a blockbuster action film that turns a board game into a alien-invasion spectacle. It's essentially a military procedural crossed with sci-fi combat, loud and earnest about duty and redemption. Director Peter Berg stages naval warfare with real energy, and the film commits fully to its premise without winking. It's for people who want explosions, spectacle, and a protagonist learning to step up—not irony.
If you liked this
Top Gun1986
The template for military action cinema: cocky pilot forced to mature, stunning aerial sequences, and a film that genuinely understands the appeal of precision warfare and brotherhood under pressure.
But The pacing is languid by modern standards, and the romance subplot feels like obligation rather than narrative engine.

Independence Day1996
Alien invasion spectacle with the same earnest, straightforward approach to global threat and military heroics. Knows exactly what it is and delivers wit alongside the destruction.
But The dialogue can tip into cheese, and it assumes you want humanity's triumph to feel inevitable rather than earned.

Act of Valor2012
Released the same year, this uses actual active-duty Navy SEALs in a combat thriller. Grants unusual authenticity to tactical sequences and a different kind of commitment to military procedure.
But The acting is stiff (it's not their job), and the screenplay treats emotion as something that happens between action beats.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Battleship
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
SOS Pacific1959
Both films use naval coalitions and military procedure as the spine of their thriller; both treat international cooperation as both necessary and complicated. SOS Pacific proves the formula long predates the toyetic nonsense.
A neglected relic where international naval forces gather to confront an unknown threat in the Pacific. It has the same procedural earnestness and commitment to military protocol, but in understated 1950s register—the ancestor Battleship doesn't know it has.
But The pacing is glacial by any standard, and the mystery is resolved with a whimper rather than spectacle.

More like this (7)
The Last Stand2013
Straightforward action filmmaking in an era obsessed with irony. Director John Carpenter delivers clean visual storytelling and genuine stakes without cynicism or self-consciousness.
But It's a B-movie at heart, and nobody's pretending otherwise. The plot is thin and the character work minimal.

Star Trek Into Darkness2013
Alien threat, military chain of command, spectacular action sequences, and a film that treats its premise as urgent rather than funny. Shares the same DNA of earnest blockbuster spectacle.
But The screenplay is often incoherent, and the franchise mythology becomes a liability if you don't know or care about it.

Oblivion2013
A soldier confronting an alien occupation with beautiful cinematography and genuine philosophical weight beneath the action. Proves high-concept sci-fi action can feel substantial.
But The plot reveals are predictable, and the film mistakes ambiguity for depth in places where clarity would serve better.

Wrath of the Titans2012
Released alongside Battleship, it shares the same commitment to large-scale action sequences and a hero learning to embrace his duty. Practical effects meet digital spectacle.
But The mythology is convoluted, and the emotional stakes never quite land despite everyone's best efforts.

John Carter2012
A military man transported to an alien world, required to lead and adapt. The action is crisp and the world-building sincere, with genuine affection for its genre origins.
But Audiences found it bloated and narratively confusing, and the film doesn't quite earn its runtime or ambition.

Transformers2007
Michael Bay's military-industrial action spectacle, complete with government involvement, real military hardware, and sequences designed to overwhelm the senses. The ur-text of modern blockbuster excess.
But The screenplay is negligible, the editing frantic to the point of incoherence, and there's no wit in the carnage whatsoever.

The Hunt for Red October1990
Both use the naval framework and military hierarchy as their narrative spine. Where Battleship adds aliens and noise, Red October proves the tension lives in procedure itself—the real suspense is whether the system works.
A submarine thriller where military chains of command, protocol, and procedure create genuine tension without alien invasions. It demonstrates that naval action cinema can be intelligent, intricate, and thrilling through pure procedural craft.
But There are no explosions or spectacle to speak of. It's a thinking person's military film, which means long stretches of quiet dread.

People
Cast
Taylor KitschLieutenant Alex Hopper
Alexander SkarsgårdCommander Stone Hopper
RihannaPetty Officer Cora "Weps" Raikes
Tadanobu AsanoCaptain Yugi Nagata
Hamish LinklaterCal Zapata
Liam NeesonAdmiral Shane
Peter MacNicolSecretary of Defense
John TuiChief Petty Officer Walter "The Beast" Lynch
Jesse PlemonsBoatswain Mate Seaman Jimmy "Ordy" Ord
Gregory D. GadsonLieutenant Colonel Mick Canales
Jerry FerraraSampson JOOD Strodell
Directing
- Peter BergDirector
- Eric HeffronFirst Assistant Director
- Michael J. MooreFirst Assistant Director
- Julie PitkanenScript Supervisor
- Rebecca BoyleScript Supervisor
- Richard OswaldSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- Erich HoeberScreenplay
- Jon HoeberScreenplay
Production
- Judith BouleyAdditional Casting
- Katie DoyleAdditional Casting
- Meagan LewisAdditional Casting
- Caitlin McKennaADR Voice Casting
- Jamie CastroCasting
- John BraceCasting
- Linda LowyCasting
- Andrew Francis FenadyExecutive In Charge Of Production
- Robin BathersonExtras Casting
- Chu Chen-OnLine Producer
- George WongLocation Manager
- Laura Sode-MattesonLocation Manager
- Michael John MeehanLocation Manager
- Bennett SchneirProducer
- Brian GoldnerProducer
- Duncan HendersonProducer
- Peter BergProducer
- Sarah AubreyProducer
- Scott StuberProducer
- Cheri HallProduction Accountant
- Karla TorresProduction Coordinator
- Michael A. GalassoProduction Coordinator
- Nancy HoneycuttProduction Coordinator
- Wendy WongProduction Manager
- David BeckerProduction Secretary
- Drew Barnett-HamiltonProduction Secretary
- Evan JohnsonProduction Secretary
- Candice D. CamposProduction Supervisor
- Renee ConfairProduction Supervisor
- Mimi N. McGrealTravel Coordinator
Recommended by
Independence Day, Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, War of the Worlds, Pixels