American Warships is a 2012 science fiction war film directed by Thunder Levin and distributed by The Asylum. It premiered on the Syfy Channel on May 15, 2012. In the tradition of The Asylum's film catalog, the film is an extremely low-budget mockbuster of the Hasbro Studios/Universal Pictures film Battleship.
Initially, the film was titled American Battleship, but Universal later involved The Asylum in a copyright lawsuit over the film due to its resemblance to their film. As a result of the controversy, the film's name was changed to American Warships.
Contents
Plot
USS Iowa is on its final voyage before being decommissioned and turned into a floating museum. When USS Enterprise is attacked and destroyed by a mysterious force, World War III looms. The captain of Iowa chases an invisible ship, which they discover to be an alien force waging war on Earth. Only the crew of this last American battleship stands in their way. (lowa's outdated technology is immune to the alien's electromagnetic pulse (EMP) weapons.)
During the fight in Washington, D.C., General McKraken attempted to steer the high-stakes game of brinkmanship between the U.S. and other world powers as several coastal towns in North Korea were also attacked, in an apparent attempt by the aliens to get the world to destroy itself. McKraken's diplomatic efforts attempted to buy Iowa time to provide proof of the alien incursion.
Cast
Mario Van Peebles as Captain Winston
Carl Weathers as General McKraken
Elijah Chester as Secretary of Defense Alter
Johanna Watts as Lieutenant Caroline Bradley
Nikki McCauley as Julia Flynn
Devin McGhee as Lieutenant Commander Juarez
Mandela Van Peebles as Lookout Dunbar
Josh Cohen as Weapons Officer Clancy
David Polinsky as Admiral Hollis
William Sudbrock as Helmsman
Robin Dale Robertson as Major
Reception
The Geek Twins rated the film 2 1/2 out of five stars.