Battleship Teaser Trailer Fires Its First Warning Shot

Steve Barton   |  

Jul 28, 2011

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The prospect of a mega budget alien invasion flick based on the game Battleship has been the source of endless mockery ever since the project was announced. According to Nikki Finke, director Peter Berg has been hoping that all the scorn would end once people got their first look at footage from the film. Umm… Nope!

The premise of a naval crew on training exercises forced to rely on old fashioned Master & Commander-style tactics in battling seafaring alien invaders doesn’t sound too awful. But then when you consider the movie only exists as a means to sell the name brand of a board game that doesn’t even have anything to do with aliens, the cast includes the likes of swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker and singer Rihanna, Universal spent upwards of $200 million making it, and then they release this hysterical teaser trailer that plays like a FunnyOrDie.com parody…

I’m not 100% convinced that this movie is even real. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if when people go to see this film next May instead of Battleship they’re merely treated to a pre-taped message of Ashton Kutcher informing everyone in the theater they’ve just fallen for the most elaborate punking of all time.

Taylor Kitsch of “Friday Night Lights” stars alongside “True Blood” vampire Alexander Skarsgård and Liam Neeson as the ship’s admiral who, sadly, is not named Admiral Paycheck. Judging by the design of the hopping alien vessel seen in this teaser trailer, it’s nice to know Starscream and Megatron have been lucky enough to find work outside of Transformers movies.

The good news for Peter Berg and the folks at Universal who have foolishly gambled a king’s ransom on Battleship is that if the movie they’ve made turns out to be highly entertaining, then their triumph over all the negative buzz leading to its release will make this the greatest come from behind triumph since that time the Washington Generals actually beat the Harlem Globetrotters.