CAST / CHARACTERS

Taylor Kitsch as
Lieutenant Commander Alex Hopper
An undisciplined U.S. Navy Weapons Officer assigned to USS John Paul Jones.

Alexander Skarsg rd as
Commander Stone Hopper
Alex's older brother and Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson.

Rihanna as
Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Cora Raikes
Crew mate and a weapons specialist aboard the John Paul Jones.

Brooklyn Decker as Samantha Shane
A physical therapist and Alex Hopper's girlfriend.

Tadanobu Asano as
Captain Nagata, JMSDF
Commanding Officer of the JDS Myoko.

Hamish Linklater as Cal Zapata
A scientist working on O'ahu.

Liam Neeson as Admiral Terrance Shane
Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and father of Samantha Shane.

Peter MacNicol as
The U.S. Secretary of Defense

John Tui as
Chief Petty Officer Walter "Beast" Lynch
A crew mate aboard the John Paul Jones.

Gregory D. Gadson as
Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales
A U.S. Army combat veteran and double amputee.

Adam Godley as Dr. Nogrady
The scientist leading the Beacon program.

Jesse Plemons as Jimmy "Ordy" Ord
Undesignated Seaman on the John Paul Jones.

Joji Yoshida as Chief Engineer Hiroki

Battleship was to begin filming in Australia's Gold Coast in 2010, but the production company changed location due to a lack of Australian government tax incentives and a high estimated budget of $209 million.

Filming took place in the United States on the Hawaiian islands of Maui and Oahu, as well as in Sherman Oaks, California to do a few apartment scenes and in Playa del Rey, California where they filmed a driving scene along with a shootout.

Some scenes were also filmed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The Science & Entertainment Exchange provided science consultation for the film. A Kongo-class destroyer of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force also appeared in the film.

Jeremy Renner was originally considered for the role of Hopper, but due to a conflicting schedule, the actor chose to star in a Paul Thomas Anderson drama filming at roughly the same time.

In April 2010, it was reported that Taylor Kitsch had been cast as Alex Hopper, Alexander Skarsg rd played his brother Stone Hopper, Brooklyn Decker stars as Sam, Hopper's fiancee and Liam Neeson as Admiral Shane, Sam's father and Hopper's superior officer.

Barbadian R&B singer Rihanna makes her acting debut in the film, as a sailor. In an interview with GQ, Berg explained how he came up with the idea to cast her.

He realized she could act after seeing her 2009 interview about the Chris Brown assault on Good Morning America with Diane Sawyer during which he found her "intelligent and articulate", and her appearance on Saturday Night Live.

She accepted the role because she wanted "to do something badass" and also because it wasn't a role too big for her to play. Tadanobu Asano also has a role in the film as the commander of a Japanese Kongo-class destroyer.

Double amputee U.S. Army Colonel Gregory Gadson, who had never acted before, plays Lt Col Mick Canales. He was cast after Berg saw a picture of him in the National Geographic Magazine.

The film marks the reunion between former co-stars Kitsch and Jesse Plemons, who previously worked together on Berg's TV series Friday Night Lights.

Resources: Wikipedia.org, imdb.com

Battleship 2012
Plot & Screenshots

In 2005, scientists discover an extrasolar planet, which they name Planet-G, with conditions similar to Earth. In 2006 NASA transmits a powerful signal from a communications array in Hawaii. Meanwhile slacker Alex Hopper gets arrested while attempting to impress Sam Shane, daughter of U.S. Pacific Fleet commander Admiral Terrance Shane.

Stone Hopper, Alex's older brother and a naval officer, is infuriated at Alex's lack of motivation and forces him to join him in the U.S. Navy. By the present day, in the year 2012, Alex is a hothead lieutenant aboard the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS John Paul Jones, while Stone is a commander and the commanding officer of USS Sampson. Alex is in a relationship with Sam and is in danger of being discharged from the Navy.

Their ships join the Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) in Hawaii. During the exercises five alien spacecraft arrive in response to the NASA signal. Their communications ship crashes in Hong Kong, causing heavy damage and casualties there, while four others land in the water near Hawaii. Sampson, John Paul Jones, and the JMSDF Kongo class destroyer Myoko investigate.

Alex, Raikes and Beast are sent to investigate, but when Alex approaches, the alien mothership reacts and creates a force field that traps the three warships. The Navy issues a blast from a fog horn, which is answered in kind by a sonic blast from one of the alien ships. The Navy opens fire on the alien fleet, which then reevaluates the Earth ships' friend or foe status, changing the monitor color for the Navy ships from green to red.

The aliens destroy the Sampson and Myoko, and damage John Paul Jones, killing the commanding and executive officers. Alex sees his brother die and returns to his ship, where he is forced to take command, albeit reluctantly and to the disbelief of the crew, as the most senior officer left on the ship. Enraged, he orders an attack, but Beast manages to convince him to recover the survivors from Myoko, including Captain Nagata, with whom Alex is in a rivalry.

The alien ships sends weapons to the islands, that destroy the military equipment and island infrastructure, but leaves noncombatants alive. Meanwhile in Oahu, Sam, a physical therapist, is accompanying retired U.S. Army veteran and double amputee Mick Canales, on a hike to help him adapt to his prosthetic legs. At the sea, they capture an humanoid alien, which attacks Alex before being rescued.

Another alien infiltrates the ship, but they manage to blast him off. Sam and Mick run into scientist Cal Zapata, who informs them that the aliens are using the communications array to signal back to their home planet. Back on the John Paul Jones, thanks to the briefly captured alien, the humans learn that the aliens are sensitive to sunlight, but they face difficulty because the alien force field has disabled radar functions.

Nagata suggests using NOAA's tsunami warning buoys around Hawaii to track the aliens as he has been using it to track other countries ships for every RIMPAC game. Mick forces Zapata to retrieve a spectrum analyser that allows Sam and Mick to contact the John Paul Jones and relay this information that the communications satellite will be on position in four hours and the aliens will be able to contact their planet.

During a night battle, the John Paul Jones sinks two alien ships, but is unable to hit the third. Alex decides to lure the third alien vessel close to shore at dawn, where he and Nagata shoot out its bridge windows as the sunrise blinds the aliens. John Paul Jones destroys the last alien escort vessel only to fall prey to their mothership's long range weapons.

Fearing the aliens are contacting a larger invasion fleet, Alex and the survivors of the John Paul Jones and Myoko assume command of USS Missouri, a decommissioned battleship turned into a museum ship, and reactivate it with the aid of the retired veterans preserving her, but end up coming face to face with the alien mothership. In the ensuing battle, the Missouri severely damages the alien mothership, destroying its force field in process.

Alex uses the last shell to destroy the communications array on the island, leaving the Missouri defenseless. With the force field down, Admiral Shane scrambles the fleet and F-18 fighters from the RIMPAC fleet arrive and save the crew by eliminating the alien threat. A ceremony is held to honor the Navy personnel and Alex, who is promoted to lieutenant commander, is presented with a Silver Star and accepts Stone's posthumous Navy Cross.

After the ceremony, Alex asks Admiral Shane for his daughter's hand in marriage. The admiral initially refuses but invites Alex to lunch to discuss the matter, referencing how Alex and Sam met. A post-credits scene in Scotland shows three schoolchildren and a handyman running off in terror as an alien hand reaches out of an object they have just opened.