Ahoy, Rihanna! Pop star joins the 'Battleship' crew

Hit! Or miss? According to Variety, Rihanna will make her feature film acting debut in the live action adaptation of the popular Hasbro ’80s game that I spent long summer afternoons playing at my neighbor Christina Lockwood’s house. (Quick question: If you were Rihanna’s manager, would you want her to start small, with a tiny but juicy role in a modest indie, or go straight for the shiny dollars of a Hasbro movie?) On the surface, this whole project sounds rather silly. The game was a great one to be sure, but the prospect of Rihanna’s rooster hair standing immobile in an ocean gale as alien forces bombard a destroyer is worrisome. That said, I do love director Peter Berg, if for nothing else than his decision to cast Tim McGraw in the marvelous Friday Night Lights and employ Explosions in the Sky on the even better soundtrack. The prospect of FNL‘s Taylor Kitsch and True Blood‘s Alexander Skarsgard as Batttleship‘s war-ready brothers does make my cheeks flush. If nothing else, this will be the prettiest cast ever assembled under one Hollywood sound stage. Universal has already set a May 25, 2012 release date.

What do you umbrella owners think? Is this an enterprise you can get behind? Does Rihanna coming aboard make you more or less skeptical? The Friday Night Lights soundtrack is among my top 5 soundtracks of all time — up there with the Mission, True Romance, She’s Having a Baby, and You Can Count on Me. What’s on your list of top 5 soundtracks?

Also: Rihanna boards ‘Battleship’ movie