Rihanna, Battleship and much more- thanks to our Entertainment Expert, Erica Taylor

This one’s for you, old ironsides.

Being an 80′s kid, I knew exactly what the losing phrase “You sank my Battleship!” meant for the winning mate during a competitive and intense Saturday afternoon game session. One would hope that such a powerful blast from the past would receive game players justice throught the imaginative minds of filmmaking like so many of our comic book superheroes have in recent movies.

After viewing the upcoming release of Battleship, I’ve decided to boycott any future Milton Bradley film production free-for-alls.  It’s just not in the cards.

Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano and good-girl-gone-rogue, Rihanna, as a tough weapons master aboard a Navy Destroyer run by rookies. When a training operation goes into crisis mode after an extreme alien attack, the newbies get a crash course in Alientology 101.

Rihanna, who left her hair extensions, makeup, chains, feathers and boots in her trailer, channeled her inner tomboy, tough-girl persona for her role as Petty Officer Cora ‘Weps’ Raikes. If anyone onboard the USS Sampson could lock and fire weapons at an enormous larger-than-life target 100 feet in front of the ship, this Petty Officer had it down packed.

Be sure to take your earplugs for this one. There are plenty of explosions and booms as the naval destroyers work their way through an invasion of outer space creatures that appear as a mix between the Whos of Whoville and the reptile from Anaconda. The real purpose of the invasion wasn’t quite developed in the film, as it seems the creators wanted to focus on the lightshow and the hero catch phrases in every other scene.

So, alien invasion equal superheroes, right? Not this time. The capes in Battleship belonged to the sound editors and costume designers (welders, to be specific). As it pertains to heroes in the film, Rihanna took the top spot for aiming high as the smart-mouthed gun-toting Officer with a sarcastic tone. The pop diva earned her stars and stripes on both land and sea in the movie. Her realness in appearance made you forget all about the tabloids’ latest Barbados bikini picture. Rihanna was ‘one of the guys’ who was smart and tough enough to help save the day.

If you’re a lover of heavy metal music, the soundtrack will lubricate your gears. With every crash and burn came an influx of rockstar madness to pump you up for the Captains next award winning stare at the enemy or butt-kicking line delivery.

I did appreciate how the Director (Peter Berg) payed homage to the men and women who sacrificed themselves to save the country, returning home with life but minus a limb or two. In my opinion, the ‘exceptional’ actors playing these roles were the real on-screen heroes.

A heavy U.S. Navy propaganda film, Battleship recognized pioneering servicemen, reaching all the way back to say to the veterans of Pearl Harbor only to ask, “Thanks, think you can you do it again?” If you’re a U.S. Navy Vet, a ‘military brat,’ or a kid at heart that loves to hear things that go boom, then Battleship is the film for you.

Battleship begins in theaters nationwide Friday, May 18, 2012.

Erica Taylor is a Los Angeles-based National Producer and Associate Writer for “The Tom Joyner Morning Show.” Check out the daily “Little Known Black History Fact,” heard every day on the TJMS and posted on the homepage. More of Taylor’s behind the scenes’ work with your favorite celebrities are available at www.ericaltaylor.com

TWITTER- Follow Erica as @soulglo76

This post originally appeared in BlackAmericaweb.com