Watch: Taylor Kitsch and Rihanna continue fighting aliens in latest 'Battleship' trailer

The latest and, presumably, final trailer for Universal's epic board game adaptation "Battleship" will do nothing to put a stop to the inevitable -- and, so far, totally accurate -- "Transformers 4" jokes.

The trailer starts like so many sci-fi trailers do -- with a group of military personnel (or, often times, scientists) discovering a seemingly dead alien life form while on a routine mission. We care because the Naval officers in question include Taylor Kitsch, Liam Neeson, Rihanna and Alexander Skarsgard.



Once the aliens attack, there's plenty of top quality CG action, some gunplay and little dialogue, and we see more of the aliens than in earlier footage (they only have four fingers! Kill 'em all!). However, "Battleship" better have more up its sleeve if it wants to compete with the likes of "The Avengers" or "The Dark Knight Rises" this summer. Director Peter Berg has earned fans with his skewed takes on genre fare like "Hancock," "Very Bad Things" and "The Rundown" (he also steered "Friday Night Lights" from film to TV), but "Battleship" appears lacking in personality and looks less like a movie than pure product.

Liam Neeson acts like Liam Neeson (never a bad thing). The fetching Rihanna looks tough. Beautiful Brooklyn Decker looks worried. Hong Kong gets destroyed. The only question that remains is: If this joins "John Carter" in the red, will Kitsch's career as a leading man be over before it started?

"Battleship" opens nationwide May 18.

What do you think of the trailer? Grade it at the top of the story.
 

Dave Lewis
Producer

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Dave Lewis has been a Los Angeles-based entertainment writer and editor for nearly ten years. Originally hailing from Minneapolis, he moved to L.A. in 1996 to attend USC, before working for various periodicals and web sites including a lengthy stint at Variety.com. He joined the HitFix staff in 2011.