New Battleship trailer scores direct hit

Hasbro has released its first full-length trailer for Battleship. Fortunately, this one is much more interesting than the short teaser that went live in July.

It appears as if an alien force has appeared in the ocean near a number of U.S. Navy Battleships during a wargames session. None of the alien ships 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 extreemly 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 alien ships, and even offers a brief look at the aliens themselves. We also get a better idea of the plot, as we learn that Kitch’s character rises to command of one of the ships within the barrier, and is forced to make difficult decisions about how and when to engage the mysterious enemy.

I almost don’t want to admit it, but despite the sureness of a critical failure I’m sort of looking forward to seeing this one.

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 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.