Movie "Battleship" Brings Together Two Countries

I love movies that mesh together history and cultures into the realm of fiction. It's like an oxymoron, mixing fantasy and reality. The movie "Battleship" brings that together.

(If you haven't watched the movie, you should not read on, this will contain spoilers)
Set on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, we are drawn in the middle of RIMPAC (Rim of the Pacific) exercises. This is an international maritime warfare set of exercises.

While on exercises, a group of Navy ships (destroyers and battleships) encounter an unknown ship in the waters. Unbeknownst to the ships, what they had come upon was actually an alien species that had come to Earth in answer to a signal that was sent by NASA. The Navy attempts to initiate contact with the aliens and are eventually fired upon setting off a war.

What I liked about this movie was that 1) It used actual ships (like the Battleship Missouri, aka Mighty Mo) 2) it was shot in Pearl Harbor, a place of historic significance to the U.S. and Japan and 3) it brought together two countries to Pearl Harbor that were previously at war.

The Mighty Mo and its replicate were used in several scenes (ceremonies) including battle scenes towards the end of the movie. What an honor for this battleship. This battleship is a significant part of U.S. Naval history as it was the last battleship built by the U.S. and it was also a witness to the end of World War II.

Pearl Harbor, for those who are not familiar with U.S. history, is the location of the surprise early morning bombing by the Japanese in their successful attempt to disable the U.S.'s Pacific fleet, and therefore started World War II.

It was awesome to see two countries (U.S. and Japan) that were formally at war, who at one time absolutely hated each other, working together on screen. Who knew we would end up being friends with Japan? Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano played Captain Nagata, a smart as a whip Naval officer who was once at odds with the Americans, in particular the main character "Hopper" played by Taylor Kitsch, but  eventually grew to respect and become friends with Hopper during the movie. To me, the initial animosity turned peaceful teamwork was quite symbolic of actual history.

All in all, the movie wasn't bad. Really Transformers meets the Navy type of movie. But the inital theme of teamwork overcomes obstacles is really apparent.