bialislaw-855-415023

Going into this, I knew the popular opinion about the movie but I like to form my own ones and never base anything on crowd mentality. Sadly I've come to share in that opinion unfortunately...

People may wonder, how did this get the money for production. That's simple - PR. World wants more female-driven movies and a better portrayal of strong women which in 2024 equals a female-superhero movie. Studios greenlight whatever has the most women archetype-slaying and 'badassery' potential without any consideration for how bad it can turn out to be.

The result is.... well, this movie, I guess.

The idea behind the movie was sound and there was significant potential to be explored. However the list of everything wrong, mishandled or flat out dumb is longer that I'd ever care to write here. Other reviews paint a pretty accurate picture in that regard.

Don't get me wrong, I love strong female protagonists but this is not the way to do it MARVEL...

Also, punch-in zooms??? What is this, a reality TV show?

Last time I wrote a review I did it in defense of a show that deserved to be defended. This time I'm likely the first (amongst IMDb users that is).

I probably wouldn't have heard about this show if I hadn't stumbled on it's premiere by accident. Which would have been a shame to be honest.

I was very positively surprised watching the premiere episode unlike with most shows these days where the hype gets built up by promos and trailers only for it all to end with a big disappointment come premiere day.

One thing that I don't get about the general information on the show is the genre. It's listed as Action/Drama, which is accurate but what is missing here is a Comedy tag.

The show is genuinely funny!

But it's the Joss Whedon meets Nathan Fillion meets House M.D. kind of funny for people who know what I mean. Comedy here is how the characters - or rather the main character - handles day to day situations and interacts with others.

For some reason Comedy genre tag has lately been reserved for those 20- something minute dumb sitcoms which I honestly cannot bear to watch. The quality of humour in those is below what I'd qualify as pathetic.

The show is very entertaining and pleasant to watch. However as I've mentioned before only a single episode premiered so far, offering everyone who enjoyed it so far a great opportunity to feel disappointed still.

This one's from USA so I'm hoping that will not be the case.

I must have read at least 40+ reviews here before I decided to write my own.

The division in opinions about the show seems to be between people who view everything in this show as a failure and people who simply don't (or don't want to) see the actual mistakes.

The show being about the crew of a single U.S. Navy Arleigh-Burke Flight IIA class destroyer Nathan James with two scientists on board attempting to create a cure for a virus that is decimating the planet's population.

I've read about a number of issues that people have that are not necessarily valid and some that I alone noticed.

The plot itself is not a bad thing - and I keep reading that (don't intend to actually quote anybody) "of course the 2 scientists on that ship are to come up with a cure" - which is not true, they were there to collect samples from the original carriers of the virus and then deliver them to a lab on the east coast of the U.S. The current situation forced them to work on the cure on board the ship as the U.S. lab was no longer a viable option.

Moving on the helicopter battle - that's something that was actually poorly made. The helicopters not being able to hit the snowmobiles with rockets (not missiles which people seem to confuse - rockets are unguided point-and-fire weapons) was pretty far fetched as was the pathetic marksmanship of the Russians but still within the realm of possibility. Admittedly small arms fire taking out the rotor's engine - sure, making it crash the way it did (as in crumbling mid-air) - not a chance. Russians jumping out of the heli's was plain simple a stupid move but it looks good on camera...

Now the ship. I can understand them not being able to detect those choppers from far away as they were supposed to maintain low profile throughout the mission which probably meant operating with as small signature as possible.

Somebody mentioned they made a mistake of not using the VLS launched SAM missiles which is also a misconception as these require a certain distance from launch point to the target and with the choppers running circles around the ship SAM's were't really an option; on the other hand not using them on the choppers that attacked the ground team was a fail. The big mistake was turning the ship to face the choppers head-on (Flight II only has one Phalanx CIWS mounted low, facing aft) where it does not posses any missile defense. If they did they could have avoided the VFX embarrassment when missiles hit the ship's hull and one of the radar arrays and did no damage at all (except for a scorch mark which wasn't there after that scene).

Another accusation towards CIWS being used in offensive manner as a mistake on creators' part - in real world CIWS has seen more offensive (AA and ship-to-ship) than defensive action - 20mm at 4500 RPM and 3.6 km range makes it the most versatile direct offensive AA weapon on that ship.

I imagine what creators actually wanted to do is show off the ship's weapons - one kill each for the 5" , Bushmaster and Phalanx. And I guess they did succeed on that front.

Final word as to the notion that this show doesn't fit the drama genre because unlike last year's "Last Resort" it doesn't start off strong and turn into full-on emotional drama. I guess some people expected heavy emotion, burdens and dilemmas (as per the genre style) but to me the TV schedule is overflowing with that kind of programming. Personally I believe that was "Last Resort's" downfall - there were a total of 3 episodes that actually featured some form of naval warfare which I first assumed (judging by how good the trailer was) was the main pitch of the show. Needless to say I was disappointed.

I'm happy this is not the case with "The Last Ship". Can't say that I'm very satisfied with it but they haven't done anything that would offend me as a viewer.

I must admit I have not seen the trailer that people keep referring to, but I do agree with one of the reviewers that trailers DO raise expectations about a movie or even mislead people into expecting something completely different. Personally I thought this movie was exactly what it was intended to be, which was an action-packed, filled with special graphical effects, sci-fi, simple war focused title, and so I enjoyed watching it.

I pretty much disagree with most of the so called "critics" (excuse my rudeness but I will never believe a single person to be qualified to review titles of all genres or levels of expected product quality). I do however share a certain feel about the lack of interpersonal relations between the characters and somewhat less than worthy acting by one Mrs. Rodriguez (although it is possible that this was all in the script).

I would recommend this title to anyone who appreciates a simple action movie because that is what you get here. You will not see any hard drama here or deep emotional moments which is basically what got this movie thrown into the critics gutter.

Bottom line. The movie is very much enjoyable for people with the right expectations. Something light and simple for a an evening after work.

I understand that some of you are really against this show being aired, mostly because you've seen the so called original "La Femme Nikita". Well... news flash! - the old show is not being replaced, see it as an alternate story - the background may be the same but the writers are taking a slightly different approach this time, so I wouldn't compare those two just yet. Like some of you who just watched the pilot and already discourage people from thinking on their own. Because that's just amateur...

As to the people who have a problem with the acting quality on the show... (referring to Maggie Q, Shane West and Xander Berkeley here) You say that these characters seem like zombies with no emotion. Haven't you even thought that this is how they are supposed to be? (I mean in the script, not the actual people :D ) Nikita was broken by people who also murdered her boyfriend and then she went off the grid. 5 years of thinking about revenge will break your soul even harder, so I'd say she's playing emotionally dead pretty well. Michael (West) has been working for the Division for quite some time and after all he's seen it's natural he'd start questioning his line of work, especially now that there is an actual enemy of the Division. And Percy is just a veteran of his line of work, so seeing his men fail him constantly against "1-girl army" drives him mad, but he can't exactly show frustration like that, can he..? That would be unprofessional, so he's boiling inside.

To clarify - I'm not saying the cast is particularly well chosen. I personally wouldn't pick Maggie Q for the role either. But it doesn't mean she's doing a bad job playing Nikita here. But that's just my opinion and not an attack on other people's opinions...