Hasbro has released a new full-length trailer for its upcoming sci-fi adventure film, Battleship, based loosely on the boardgame of the same name.
Previous teasers and trailers for the film have focused heavily on the action and destruction the film will depict, and have made it feel like, other than a silly romantic subplot – surprised? – it has no real plot at all.
Of course, what can you really expect of an adaptation of a boardgame?
This is certainly more than I ever expected.
An alien force has appeared in the ocean near a number of U.S. Navy Battleships during a wargames session, although none of the vessels seem to register on any of the battleship’s sensors. To make matters worse, the alien forces put up some type of barrier which essentially traps the U.S. fleet. These few ships then become humanity’s only defense, trapped as they are inside the bubble with the monsters.
The fleet, guided by a surly Liam Neeson and a rebellious Taylor Kitsch, will have to find a way to blindly fend off the aliens from inside this extremely limited field of engagement, while simultaneously trying to discover why the extraterrestrials have suddenly appeared.
This new trailer gives us a closer look at the aliens themselves. Seemingly, one of the sub-plots of the film involves a member of the alien crew who is fished out of the ocean. This implies that the alien vessel must be damaged in some way, perhaps being the only saving grace of humankind. Ultimately, the Navy will have to discover and exploit any ship vulnerabilities.
I almost don’t want to admit it, but I’m sort of looking forward to seeing this one, and it’s looking more and more like it might not be a complete critical failure either.
The idea of the board game this film is adapting, if somehow you haven’t played it before, is that each player blindly fires plastic peg missiles into an opponent’s sector, then bases 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 involved unless you get two players who know the game or each other very well.
Battleship, which also stars Alexander Skarsgard, Brooklyn Decker, Rihanna, Josh Pence, Jesse Plemons and Peter MacNicol, opens May 18, 2012.
