How Will Battleship Fare Among Films with Strange Inspiration?

COMMENTARY | The first Battleship trailer had Brooklyn Decker, a screw-up Naval officer on his last chance, Liam Neeson, and even aliens. But the one thing it was missing was the catchphrase "You sunk my Battleship." Otherwise, those who saw the trailer probably wouldn't have realized that this aliens vs. Navy film drew its inspiration from a board game -- presumably.

It seems Hollywood is so hard up for ideas it's getting them from Milton Bradley. Still, it did get the billion-dollar Transformers franchise from an animated series based on Hasbro toys, so there is precedent for this sort of thing. In any case, the first teaser has more of a resemblance to Transformers than the board game itself.

But the appearance of alien ships is saved for the second half of the clip, while the first makes it look more like a Naval drama. Friday Night Lights' Taylor Kitsch, who also stands to break out on the big screen in 2012 with John Carter, is a struggling officer in love with his commanding officer's daughter, Brooklyn Decker. Yet before one can wonder why Liam Neeson is the admiral, his fleet -- including Alexander Skarsgard and Rihanna -- has a close encounter on the high seas.

In all likelihood, they're probably saving Kitsch or Neeson growling out "You sunk my battleship" for the full-length trailer. But that would probably be the only connection this film has to the game, which was designed for a duel with human ships.

Of course, when the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise was spawned from the original Disney ride, the ride didn't have Captain Jack Sparrow dreamed up. So inspiration can come from the most unlikely places; whether it's good or bad inspiration is another matter. Few would argue that future Pirates movies, or the Transformers series, had much creative success in expanding their unlikely brands.

Putting aliens in the mix doesn't guarantee success either. It is a bit fitting that the teaser was released on the week Cowboys & Aliens comes out with its own genre mismatch. Yet putting aliens in a Western hasn't panned out the way fans might have hoped, given the mixed reviews thus far on Rotten Tomatoes. Therefore, if putting space invaders against Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford isn't working out, having them battle the Navy probably doesn't sound any better.

But perhaps because Battleship likely has much lower expectations, it may not need to do as much to defy them. Director Peter Berg has several months and a few more trailers left to fine tune his strategy before he makes his big move in May 2012. So time will tell if he gets a direct hit on B-5, G-6, or whatever position the audience is hiding in.

Sources

YouTube- "Battleship- Trailer"

Rotten Tomatoes- "Cowboys & Aliens"