The movie doesn’t come out until next spring, so we’re not sure why Universal is getting a behind-the-scenes look at “Battleship” out so early, or why they’ve chosen to do it when most people are on vacation and/or headed back to school. But their marketing department gets paid the big bucks to make these kinds of decisions so they probably know what they’re doing, but it seems the first order of business is getting us to believe Rihanna is a woman in uniform in this movie.
The pop singer makes her debut in “Battleship” playing — get this — a naval weapons specialist. Apparently, we will be able to buy into the realistic portrayal because Rihanna will have some fake tattoos and won’t be wearing any makeup . That’s right, she’s gone all Daniel Day-Lewis on us and utterly transformed herself into a completely unrecognizable officer. Ok, so maybe not, but of all the things we’re already finding difficult to swallow in this alien-invasion-board-game-movie, the “Pon De Replay” singer as a member of the Navy is right at the top of our list. But hey, we’re willing to be proven wrong. Maybe she can pull it off and kick some alien ass. Anyway, the rest of the clip is pretty boilerplate, empty talking-head stuff that will test your tolerance of perky “Entertainment Tonight” hosts — so continue watching at your peril. Just remember what happened to Kramer.
“Battleship” opens on May 12, 2012.
