Battleship booms onto the screen with style and scale. For its target of young male audience, it’s got a bit of everything – an alien invasion, antihero who saves the world, individual conflicts, a little romance and humour to relieve the tension. There are excellent contrasts of tone and the characters are well established to give the story ballast.

As a recalcitrant naval officer made hero, Taylor Kitsch holds his own and delivers a pleasant performance. It is pure special effects entertainment and the time flies almost as quickly as the firework filled battle between man and alien.

Impressive visual effects is the star of this sci-fi thriller; the alien ship taking the form of a robotic structure with a myriad of lethal changing parts. The effects are heavy-duty and relentless. Especially of using the battleship game grid as one of the interesting tactics employed to find the enemy, when their location is unknown.

Rihanna is a perky presence as Raikes, a wild marine while Japanese star Tadanobu Asano is excellent as Nagata.

Production values are superb and the score that underlies all the action keeps time with the pumping of our hearts. The climactic sequence in which a historic battleship with its crew of old timers get into the action is a fitting finale before the story strands are neatly gathered and make way from the rocky seas to rest ashore.  watch new movies