The proliferation of streaming providers implies that audiences are continually bombarded with issues to observe, and it is simple for particular person motion pictures to get misplaced within the fray. But, each infrequently, a movie which may very properly have light into obscurity earlier than the streaming period manages to safe a brand new lease on life when it hits, say, Prime Video.
Time and time once more, Amazon’s streaming platform has proved itself to be a golden alternative for motion pictures that failed on the field workplace. Prime Video helped Gareth Edwards’ formidable 2023 sci-fi film “The Creator” discover an viewers, nevertheless it has additionally benefitted movies which might be, for need of a extra well mannered phrasing, fairly dangerous. Ryan Reynolds’ worst-reviewed film turned a Prime Video hit 12 years after its launch, in any case — and Nicole Kidman’s 2025 important flop “Holland” did the identical instantly after it hit streaming platform.
Now, singer Rihanna’s first main blockbuster film, the 2012 field workplace bomb “Battleship,” has joined the ranks of critically-panned movies which might be killing it on Prime Video. As of Might 27, the film was the second-most-viewed Prime Video film within the U.S., proper behind the juggernaut that’s “Mission: Not possible – Useless Reckoning.” Discuss a second wind, proper?
Battleship has a stacked forged and loads of alien-fighting motion
Once you take a look at the forged of “Battleship,” it is simple to see why the streaming viewers is likely to be fast to choose the movie for a film evening. It boasts frankly absurd star energy, and a number of the names within the forged have change into significantly extra well-known within the years after it debuted. Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgård, Taylor Kitsch, and “Shōgun” star Tadanobu Asano are all right here, and you may spot of us like Jesse Plemons, Rami Malek, and Hamish Linklater in assorted supporting roles.
There’s additionally Rihanna, in fact, enjoying the fearless gunner’s mate Cora Raikes — a reasonably essential job, contemplating the film’s premise. “Battleship,” because it occurs, is likely one of the stranger outcomes of Hollywood’s knee-jerk tendency to show each out there leisure IP right into a tentpole film. It is based mostly on the basic board sport, although it ought to be famous that followers of the supply materials aren’t going to see essentially the most trustworthy of variations. As a substitute, “Battleship” fortunately interprets the sport’s tactical ship-sinking as a conflict between people and an alien race, pitting an assortment of heavily-armed marine vessels in opposition to a gaggle of alien warships on the forcefield-covered coasts of Hawaii.
Critics did not love the film, it misplaced about $150 million for its studio, and it is anybody’s guess whether or not the individuals who have been watching it recently would have been completely satisfied to see it in a theater … which, come to think about it, makes “Battleship” the precise form of film that advantages from streaming. In spite of everything, since we stay in a world the place an individual can simply casually determine to spend the following couple of hours watching Rihanna fireplace a strong gun at a CGI spaceship, why ought to lackluster opinions forestall anybody from embracing the chance?
