Battleship & The Art of War

知彼知己，百戰不殆；不知彼而知己，一勝一負；不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆

I watched Battleship - an American naval war film. It was not advertised as a box-office hit, though the movie displayed numerous special effects - with missiles, aliens & huge robots taking centre stage. I did that smart move to watch it in Tebrau City for a mere fraction of Singapore's ticket prices. It costed me MYR 14 (SGD 5.80), approximately half of what it would have costed me in Singapore (SGD 10).

The movie made reference of Sun Tzu's The Art of War. As such, I though it is important to reflect that true verse of 孙子兵法 upon themselves.

When that started off, Alex Hopper approached the enemy - without knowledge of what it can do. He continued his approach even though fellow marines advised him against it. The alien ship responded by giving him a strong electro-shock. His act of rashness was further highlighted when he fired the alien at close proximity. His life was endangered, only for his brother to sacrifice his life to save Alex.

(不知彼，不知己，每戰必殆 - If you know neither yourself nor your enemy, you will always endanger yourself.)

As the movie progressed, Alex Hopper and his team were aware that they have limited powers. One moment that illustrated it was when they tried to engage the alien. They knew that their rifles are insufficient, but they do not know the capabilities of the alien. It was only through sheer luck that Alex survived with a jump off the ship at the last moment.

(不知彼而知己，一勝一負 - If you only know yourself, but not your opponent, you may win or may lose.)

The humans triumphed over the aliens, because they figured not only the strengths of the aliens, but also their weaknesses. For e.g., the aliens were susceptible to bright light & they will not be aggressive if no armoury is pointed towards them.
(知彼知己，百戰不殆 - If you know your enemies and know yourself, you can win a hundred battles without a single loss.)