Hasbro has released a new featurette for its upcoming boardgame-based alien invasion action flick Battleship.
We definitely see some new footage here, though most of what we can identify from the film itself is content we’ve already watched from various trailers and teasers. So the real bonus here is hearing the director, Peter Berg, and lead actors, Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna, discuss the plot of the film. Be warned, the whole film is pretty much summed up here, so spoiler haters should avoid it.
Of course, there isn’t all that much to the plot anyhow. The reason to go see this film will be the special effects and alien battles, not a compelling character-driven narrative. It is based on a plotless semi-tactical boardgame after all.
The idea of the boardgame, if you somehow haven’t played before, is that each player fires missiles blindly at the opponent’s ocean, only knowing if their missile hits, then basing further moves on the pattern of hits and misses, taking turns until one fleet or the other is completely covered in little red ‘hit’ markers. Mostly it’s a game of chance, with little actual skill unless you get two players who know the game or each other very well.
In this film, the blind firing is represented by a lack of ability to ‘see’ the alien ships on sonar or radar, and the limited engagement space is created by a force-field the aliens deploy.
The ships, guided by a surly Liam Neeson and a rebellious Kitsch, will have to find a way to fend off the aliens blindly from inside their limited field of engagement. The sub-plot puts Kitsch’s character in bed with Neeson’s character’s daughter, played by Brooklyn Decker.
Here’s the latest trailer, for reference:
Battleship, which also stars Alexander Skarsgard, Josh Pence, Jesse Plemons and Peter MacNicol, opens May 18, 2012.
