THE BATTLE FOR EARTH BEGINS AT SEA.
The international naval exercise RIMPAC turns deadly serious when aliens crash into the Pacific and try to establish a communications base in Hawaii. Director Peter Berg summons his inner Michael Bay for this dumb, loud blockbuster version of the simple board game that is now owned by Hasbro – which explains the headache-inducing Transformers approach. As a PR project for the Navy, this serves a purpose, but far too often its sense of humor gives way to bloated action sequences and childish characters.
2012-U.S. 130 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Peter Berg. Cast: Taylor Kitsch (Alex Hopper), Alexander Skarsgård (Stone Hopper), Rihanna (Cora Raikes), Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano… Peter MacNicol, Jesse Plemons, Rami Malek.
Trivia: Rihanna’s acting debut. Jeremy Renner was reportedly first cast as Alex.
Razzie: Worst Supporting Actress (Rihanna).