Liam Neeson Playing Naval Admiral in 'Battleship'

Battleship keeps getting weirder. Not Crispin Glover weird, but it has become anything but the movie that popped into everyone's mind when the board game adaptation was announced over a year ago. "Adaptation" seems an ill-fitting word; more than anything, it's just using the name of Hasbro's game with an entirely different set of circumstances. So Peter Berg has aliens and Rihanna and supermodel Brooklyn Decker - the latter two should at least be pleasant distractions from the first, a real waste of this opportunity - and now it has Liam Neeson, whose career has really been in high gear since Taken was released. Deadline reports that Neeson has joined the cast as Admiral Shane, father of Brooklyn Decker's character. She's engaged to the Navy guy played by Taylor Kitsch from Friday Night Lights, another Peter Berg offering. Well, he's in the show, which Berg produces; he also directed the film, but Kitsch wasn't involved in that. I'm almost completely positive there isn't a role anywhere in Battleship that requires someone of Neeson's ability, but almost all of these statuesque summer follies features one seriously out-of-place actor of high repute. Hell, Neeson's done that twice already in 2010. But it seems odd that he's joining the cast now, since they're already filming. If it's a smaller role, then that's no big deal, but as the only actor worth really paying attention to here, I hope that's not the case.

Comments

[D]

Well before I go to bed I just want to say orevwa, farewell and thanks for the memories Colin. Hopefully you'll still hang out in the comments section, but I understand if you can't. Good luck.

[Will]

A leaked script reveals that Neeson's character has but one line, read with intense urgency: 'Send in the Battleship!'

[Will]

Ah hell. I'm so sad that Colin is leaving that I fucked that up. It was supposed to be:

'Release the Battleship!'.

I'll try to do better next time. If anyone needs me, I'll be in the corner softly weeping in the fetal position...