Battleship, the children's board game of naval warfare, is brilliantly simple: hunt and sink your opponent's ships of varying classes within a 10x10 grid.

This test of guile and logic provides the unlikely inspiration for a special effects-laden alien invasion blockbuster directed with testosterone-fuelled gusto by Peter Berg.

From the opening shots of scientists foolishly transmitting signals into deep space to stirring scenes of retired US officers casting aside their walking sticks to man a declassified naval vessel, Battleship is preposterous popcorn fodder.

Alex Hopper (Taylor Kitsch) is a dropout, whose antics on the Hawaiian island of Oahu reflect badly on his brother, Stone (Alexander Skarsgard), the captain of the USS Sampson.

Alex is assigned to the USS John Paul Jones, under the watch of Vice Admiral Shane (Liam Neeson), who just happens to be the deeply disapproving father of his girlfriend, Samantha (Brooklyn Decker).

During a series of competitive naval exerciss, pitting US forces against the Japanese, extra-terrestrial spacecraft crash-land in the Pacific.

The USS Sampson, USS John Paul Jones and JDS Myoko under the command of Captain Nagata (Tadanobu Asano) are despatched to assess the threat.

The aliens generate a force field to separate the three vessels from the rest of the fleet.

Sassy weapons specialist Cora Raikes (Rihanna) and boatswain Ordy (Jesse Plemons) stand alongside Alex on their destroyer, awaiting the order to attack.

Battleship gradually achieves a brisk rate of knots and once the aliens enter Earth’s atmosphere, director Berg orchestrates carnage on a grand scale to justify the water-logged 200million dollar budget.

This picture is all about the slam-bang spectacle and Berg’s film delivers, guns a-blazing. DAMON SMITH