An unapologetically patriotic, mammoth sized action spectacle, what Battleship lacks in smarts and innovation it makes up for in pure popcorn entertainment.

Any questions of whether a board game could be turned into a movie have been answered. Exactly what quality of movie is a matter of opinion, but did anyone actually believe that an adaptation of Battleship (as in “you sunk my Battleship!”) would be anything other than a shoot it up, blow ‘em out, VFX heavy battle on the high seas?

That is exactly what Battleship delivers, among other things. Namely this is a film that is un-apologetic in its pro-military stance, giving praise to soldiers past and present with the Navy the only thing that stands between the world and a battalion of alien invaders packing some major heat.

In typical fashion with most of these sci-fi action movies, Battleship opens with a signal sent by NASA into the far reaches of the universe in order to find intergalactic life. Of course an answer comes in the form of alien invaders, who crash a Naval war games between the Americans and the Japanese.

Not only are the Navy desperately out-gunned, but circumstances have them fall under the command of Lt Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch), an officer of great potential yet is headstrong and immature. That he’s sleeping with the Admiral’s (Liam Neeson) only daughter (Brooklyn Decker) doesn’t help his case.

This is Kitsch’s second big outing of 2012 after headlining the vastly underrated John Carter. Once again Kitsch is asked to show his action hero chops, and it’s a suit that he wears well.

No surprise to find that character is not high on the agenda in Battleship. Actors in movies like Battleship are all about projecting personality, not character (especially with a script this tiresome). It’s the VFX that does the heavy lifting.

It is a fact of movie life that director Peter Berg embraces. While he does share some annoying filmmaking traits featured in that other HASBRO blockbuster series Transformers (is it standard procedure that sweeping camera shots and lavish attention on supermodels/actresses be used in all of these films?), Berg doesn’t suffer from the ADD styling’s of a Michael Bay and utilises some control over his action scenes.

And boy what magnificently over the top action scenes Battleship contains, as rival ships face off in a battle of (somewhat) wits and canon fire, with explosions aplenty and mass destruction the order of the day.

There is a lot to admire in the enthusiasm and craft given to these action sequences. Not only does it distract from the character bereft dramatics and by the numbers sci-fi, but it also entertains. And isn’t that the most important thing of all in a popcorn movie?