Godzilla’s Latest Trailer Wrecks The Joint While Bryan Cranston Demands Answers
"You have no idea what's coming!"
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“You have no idea what’s coming.” Bryan Cranston lays out that portentous line in the latest Godzilla trailer, which just hit the web. But with every new glimpse of Godzilla footage we become more and more convinced that, whatever is coming, it’s going to be awesome.
Legendary Pictures and director Gareth Edwards (Monsters) have been very canny in how much they reveal with each new trailer for the big guy’s return to the big screen. We’ve seen widespread destruction. We finally got our first really good look at the titanic monster in the previous trailer, and this latest video seems to confirm one long-standing rumor, as well as providing a few hints as the backstory leading up to the film.
Firstly, while we may not get a very good look at them, it definitely seems that Godzilla will feature more than one giant monster. Right around the 1:28 mark we see what I first thought was a tail, but which on closer inspection seems to be some sort of biological appendage that’s wrapped around a missile at the bottom. Hard to figure out exactly what we’re looking at without context, but it doesn’t match Godzilla in either design or size. In one of the very next scenes, we get a brief shot of something big diving out of the sky and into the ocean. Again, it’s fleeting, but it doesn’t look like Godzilla. It appears to be some sort of winged creature — the new version of Mothra perhaps?
Based on the Comic-Con footage that’s leaked to the web a couple of times since last summer, we knew Godzilla wasn’t the only monster that was going to be featured in the movie, but this latest trailer definitely seems to confirm that. The big question is, what part will they play in the story? Will Godzilla and the rest be throwing down against each other, with our poor unfortunate selves caught in the carnage at ground level? Either way, as good as Godzilla looks, I can’t wait to see what else Edwards’ flick has in store for us.
The trailer also reveals a bit of backstory. Ken Watanabe’s character explains that the Japanese “awakened something” in 1954 — Godzilla, presumably. I love the little twist that all the “nuclear tests” in the Pacific weren’t actually tests, but rather attempts to kill Godzilla. Since the movie appears to focus on Godzilla’s first widespread global rampage, can we assume that those nuclear attacks injured him or somehow sent him into hiding throughout the ensuing decades? Obviously something’s woken him back up or irritated him enough to come out of hiding, so it’ll be interesting to see how the film explains all of that.
Finally, I just have one last comment: this is why you hire Bryan freakin’ Cranston. In the midst of an inherently silly concept, Cranston’s performance here absolutely grounds the material and gives it serious dramatic weight. Pacific Rim tackled similar material with a pure popcorn sensibility, and it was a blast. It’s clear that Edwards’ Godzilla is going to be as far over on the other end of the spectrum as possible, trying to serve up a serious exploration of just how screwed we would be in a giant-monster scenario. That being the case, hiring the man who was Walter White was probably one of Edward’ smartest decisions yet.
Godzilla is set to stomp into theaters on May 16.
