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Just as he’s in the midst of production in the titular role of Disney’s upcoming epic John Carter of Mars, Friday Night Lights and Wolverine star Taylor Kitsch is lining up another big sci-fi tentpole. He has signed on in one of the lead roles in Peter Berg’s upcoming board game adaptation Battleship.

Heat Vision is reporting that Kitsch will play ‘a Naval commander named Alex Hopper, described as wildly spirited and a great seaman but a lousy politician.’

The obvious joke here is that he will play a wildly spirited seaman. I don’t have anything better than that. Sometimes these things just write themselves. Currently there are several major roles yet to be filled in Battleship, including a female lead and a Japanese commander. The story — penned by Jon and Erich Hoeber — will follow an international fleet of ships who must band together to thwart an invasion by sea-fairing aliens.

Still not so sure about the aliens plot, but I’m willing to give it a chance. Peter Berg has hit in the past, and more importantly, the recent past. And he seem to have the best of intentions for this film. That, and I’m not really holding tightly to the honor of the source material. There is no source material, it’s a damn board game. This movie could go just about anywhere and as long as the narrative is coherent and the action beats are impressive, it will be worth taking a look at.