Battleship -2012-2012

The Ghost of the Pacific

Game Homage: One of the film's highlights is a sequence where the crew uses tsunami buoys to "play" the actual board game, calling out coordinates to fire at "pegs".

The film performed reasonably well at the box office, grossing over $304 million worldwide on a budget of $150 million. While it didn't quite meet the studio's expectations, it still proved to be a commercial success. Battleship -2012-2012

While it is easy to dismiss Battleship (2012) as a "loud and flashy" attempt to turn a board game into a summer blockbuster, looking deeper reveals a film that subverts the standard alien invasion tropes in surprisingly thoughtful ways. The Mirror of Aggression

noting that while it was "less awful than it could have been," it followed a very predictable blockbuster formula. The Ghost of the Pacific Game Homage :

Tadanobu Asano: As Captain Nagata, he provided the tactical "brain" to Hopper’s "brawn," highlighting the real-world alliance between the U.S. and Japan. The USS Missouri: The Ultimate "Old School" Payoff

Unlike other disaster or sci-fi films of the era, such as Roland Emmerich's While it is easy to dismiss Battleship (2012)

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.

During the RIMPAC exercises, the alien ships arrive, disabling global communications with an energy pulse. The aliens erect a massive, indestructible dome-like force field that traps three U.S. Navy destroyers (USS John Paul Jones, USS Sampson) and one Japanese destroyer (JDS Mikuma) inside Hawaiian waters, cutting them off from the rest of the fleet.