Battleship (2012)

Today’s breaking news story comes to us through Dr. Nogrady (Adam Goodly), the head of NASA’s Beacon International Project, as he announces that scientists have identified an Earth like planet that they believe could sustain life; their goal is to transmit a signal to what they’re calling, Planet G, from a communication station located on Oahu, Hawaii.

Elsewhere on Oahu, Alex Hopper (Taylor Kirtsch) and his brother Navy Commander Stone Hopper (Alexander Skarsgard) are in a bar celebrating Alex’s birthday; Stone recalls a quote from an old coach:

“Adversity is the state in which man most easily becomes acquainted with himself.”

Then he presents Alex with a single candle Birthday Cupcake and Alex wastes his one wish on a beautiful girl at the bar; but she’s not just any girl, Samantha Shane (Brooklyn Decker) is the daughter of Navy Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson). After quite an eventful night, Stone informs Alex that it’s time to grow up and he forces Alex to join him in the Navy.

Sometime later, thousands of sailors on dozens of ships are meeting in Hawaii for RIMPACA XXII; the world’s largest International Maritime War Games Exercise with 14 Navies and 20,000 Navy personnel, and the event also includes a memorial ceremony held on the decommissioned USS Missouri honoring Old-Salt (senior war veterans). It’s kind of like the Olympics, with game exercises on land and at sea. Alex has become a Navy Lieutenant and he did get the girl, he’s been dating Samantha all along, and now it’s time to formally ask for her hand in marriage; but he’s so intimidated by Admiral Shane that he screws up every opportunity he gets. Including today, even after Samantha had reserved specific private time for them to talk; Alex gets into a brawl with Japanese Captain Yugi Nagata (Tadanobu Asano) and Admiral Shane lashes out at him confirming his disapproval. The sea exercises begin and Alex is on the USS John Paul Jones, while Stone is on the USS Sampson; he informs Alex that the JAG will probably kick him out of the Navy after they’re done with RIMPAC. Meanwhile Dr. Nogrady, NASA, and the US Air Force are in contact with Cal (Hamish Linklater), the lead scientist at the communication satellite array station in Hawaii. 5 strange objects have entered our atmosphere, Cal has been advised to brace for impact as some of the unknown objects crash into the Pacific Ocean near him as well as several other areas around the world. NASA tells the Secretary of Defense that they believe this may be an alien response to the communication signals that they have been transmitting. Lucky for us, our Navy fleets are already in the Pacific and the floating objects can be seen by eye, but cannot be detected by radar. Alex gets sent out to investigate the floating objects and manages to activate some kind of force field, 3 Navy ships are trapped inside the barrier while the remaining naval fleets are located outside. Pretty soon, 3 large unfamiliar vessels emerge in front of the floating object; Stone orders the firing of a single warning shot for which the enemy retaliates and all hell breaks loose, 2 of the 3 trapped ships are annihilated. The enemy has also launched more strange objects to attack military bases and transportation infrastructures on land. Aliens have also landed on Oahu and NASA has determined that the aliens are planning to use our satellite array in Saddle Ridge Oahu to direct more of their kind to wage an extinction level event here on Earth. After a ferocious battle inside the barrier, all 3 Navy ships and 3 enemy vessels have been destroyed and all that’s left are a couple of lifeboats with far less than one ship’s full crew. Aliens are still on Oahu setting up to get their signal out and now, Alex and Captain Nagata need to find a way to blow up the Satellite array station before the aliens begin to transmit. But the only ship left in the harbor is the decommissioned USS Missouri, she’s a floating museum and these soldiers have no idea how to get her back into combat condition. However, once they get aboard, the ship’s hull comes to life with Old-Salt manned at all stations. “Oh brother, somebody gonna kiss the donkey!” And on that note both young and old Navy soldiers are ready to Rock, Lock and Load the USS Missouri into position to destroy the satellite array station and reclaim our planet.

Battleship is action packed with drama and awesome special effects, and indeed another Must See movie!

Lockout (2012)

The year is 2079 and unfortunately corruption is still alive and well in Washington D.C.

Ex-CIA Operative, Snow (Guy Pearce) has been arrested and is now being interrogated by the Head of Secret Service - Special Agent Scott Langral (Peter Stormare); Langral wants Snow to tell him what happened in a New York City hotel room the night CIA Agent Colonel Frank Armstrong was killed, but Snow doesn’t trust Langral and is refusing to tell him anything.

 (Apparently, Frank had a package containing evidence about an inside spy selling Top Secret information. Snow was supposed to help Frank deliver his package to the president. But Snow got to the room too late, assailants were already in the room and one of them shot Frank before Snow could kill him. Just before Frank died, he handed Snow his dog tags and a flip top lighter and told him not to let them get it. All of the sudden, lights were flashing and bullets were flying, Snow grabbed the briefcase laying on the floor next to Frank and took off. He managed to make it to the subway station where his buddy, Mace (Tim Plester) was waiting for him on a train, but police had him surrounded so he threw the briefcase into the train and watched it pull away. Mace took the briefcase to another station and hid it in a locker but while he was leaving, his gun fell out of his jacket and accidentally shot a police officer.)

Langral tells Snow that Frank was under surveillance for selling secrets about our space programs, and then he played a recording of Snow shooting Frank from behind. But that wasn’t how it happened. Pretty soon CIA Agent Harry Shaw (Lennie James) enters the room, and Langral steps out. Snow knows Harry and obviously trusts him because he told Harry that Mace has the briefcase. Langral has gone to speak with President Warnock (Peter Hudson) about Snow, and they learn that his daughter Emily Warnock (Maggie Grace) is away on a humanitarian errand.

She’s on a spaceship headed for America’s most efficient means of managing convicted criminals. M.S. ONE, a highly advanced outer space Maximum Security Prison equipped to house over 500,000 of the world’s most dangerous criminals by using a controversial procedure called Stasis (a controlled deep sleep). However, at the moment it’s still in a test phase and currently only holding about 500 prisoners. Emily’s mission is to learn more about the long term effects of Stasis on humans. So in a well secured setting, Emily will get to interview Hydell (Joseph Gilgun), an inmate who has just been awakened from Stasis.

And back on Earth, Langral informs Snow that he has just been convicted of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit espionage against the United States; and his sentence, a 30 year Stasis on M.S. One and it’s effective immediately.

Meanwhile up on M.S. One, there’s been a hostile takeover; Hydell got a hold of a gun, released all the prisoners and now he and his brother Alex (Vincent Regan) are holding the prison guards and staff including the president’s daughter hostage. The president needs Snow to go up to M.S. One, find and safely return Emily back down to Earth. But Snow rejects the idea until Harry secretly informs him that Mace is up on M.S One; Mace is the only one that knows where that briefcase is, and getting that briefcase back is the only way for Snow to regain his freedom. So, with that knowledge Snow accepts the mission. And once onboard M.S. One Snow will need all of his operative skills plus a whole lot of luck; he has to battle the inmates, bypass the security’s technology, get the girl, get Mace, locate their escape pods, get the girl again because the inmates got her back. Oh yes – and the clock is ticking; with no one to monitor the facility’s navigational system they are slowly falling out of space and will collide with Earth within roughly 8 hours: so Special Forces have been deployed to blow the prison up while it’s still in space. And even if they make it off the facility in time, there's still no telling what Snow's fate may be when he returns to Earth.