Happy Trails: "Battleship"

I've spoken about movie trailers in relation to the final films in my posts before.  In this new series, I will be talking about new trailers for upcoming movies. Trailers give us a glimpse into a film, sometimes accurately, sometimes not, to help us decide whether we want to see it.

 

 Uh... So I've played "Battleship," and I really don't recall aliens being part of it.  Like, ever.  This is a really strange direction to take this franchise.  It obviously wants to capitalize on the success of Michael Bay's "Transformers" films, which to date have brought in over two and a half billion dollars at the box office.  But more than just saying "from the dudes who brought you 'Transformers,'" the trailer for "Battleship" actually seems to crib a lot of the style of those films, as well.



The look and sound of this trailer almost makes it seem like "Transformers 4."  Beyond just the nail-biting naval combat the original game is known for, the trailer looks to involve aspects of aerial combat, alien invasion films and disaster movies.  Will "Battleship" be loaded with wall-to-wall action and special effects?  It seems so.  Will it also feature the dumb plotting and simplistic characters of the "Transformers" franchise?  It seems likely.

Will I care?  Probably not.

The trailer certainly is loaded with eye-popping moments of destruction, but I simply can't shake my "...huh?" over the whole thing.  Is "Battleship" sunk?  It's likely to make some good money, as an action-packed, effects-laden summer tent-pole film, but only if it can get past people like me who are apprehensive about taking what was a fairly simple game and wrapping it in seemingly unnecessary sci-fi trappings.  The fact that it seems so much like "Transformers" doesn't really help it, either, even for someone like me who liked all three of those films.