http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8aUNa9PnRY
It’s finally here, folks. The trailer for the new Peter Berg film Battleship – a big-screen adaptation of…a classic board game. The board game-to-movie adaptation isn’t unheard of – it’s happened before with the 1985 murder mystery film Clue, which turned out pretty well, all things considered. But the game of Battleship doesn’t have any plot at all, which made me, and many others, quite wary when the movie was announced. And now the trailer has arrived, and it’s…well, it’s not bad. It’s cheesy and ludicrous, sure, but the special effects are pretty good, and it has Liam Neeson and that dude from True Blood in it. Frankly, I think this is the best that we could have hoped for. It’s like Independence Day on the ocean, or something. And I have to say, I’m impressed that the filmmakers seem to have put some effort into drawing connections to the board game. Notice how the alien bomb/missile things look just like the red and white “hit” or “miss” pegs from the game? And how about the way the alien energy dome cuts off their radar, so our heroes have to…guess the coordinates of their shots. It’s kinda brilliant, in a stupid way.
Battleship sails into theatres May 18, 2012.