Godzilla Is Back With Three More Secretive TV Spots
This article is more than 2 years old
This has been damn good week if you’re excited for director Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla, the reboot of Toho’s iconic giant monster franchise. Almost every day has arrived bearing the gift of a new TV spot for the May 16 release, each with just a dab of new footage to keep us on the hook. Today is no exception, only because it’s Friday, Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have released three new commercials for their massive creature feature, two international bits, with a domestic one as a chaser. And if that still isn’t enough, we also got word that an extended preview of the film will drop online tomorrow.
The first video, titled “Lies,” shows human star Bryan Cranston railing against the misinformation that the government is giving the general public. In movies, when a giant monster starts stepping on a major city like San Francisco, the Man always keeps such news under wraps, usually to the detriment of the populace. Whatever this is, you can bet your ass that it is most definitely not a simple earthquake. They also always think they can contain the damage, which, inevitably, they cannot.
We’re also introduced to what appears to be Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen’s child, asking, in that innocent way that only a kid can, if we’re all going to be alive tomorrow. That’s a tricky question. You have to think that the answer is no, we probably won’t all still be here in the morning, but you never want to crush a youngster’s dreams like that, do you?
While the first video is about lies, number two is all about the “Secret.” Again, Cranston wants to know the exact nature of the closely guarded bit of information that the government has seen fit to keep hidden. Or at least he thinks he wants to know. Learning that a gigantic lizard is on the loose, wrecking up the joint, might be a bit too much to handle. There’s also that flappy-winged monster diving into the water. Maybe some things are better left unknown.
The third clip in our end-of-the-week trilogy is longer, clocking in at just over a minute, and plays like a truncated version of the various trailers we’ve encountered. There’s the HALO jumpers, the monster shrouded in fog, and quick glimpses of all the main characters, often running from some unseen destruction. This doesn’t tell us much, but David Strathairn does as everyone to have courage, which is easier said than done when facing down the King of the Monsters. Most of us would need a change of undies.
Over the course of the week, these clips have gradually expanded our view of Godzilla. For the most part they’re made up of the same footage cut together in different orders, with new voiceovers laid on top. But as we’ve moved forward, we’ve gotten more and more, a few frames at a time. That tidal wave clip is old hat at this point, but now we’ve seen multiple different angles of the event. Or that clip of the destruction at what appears to be at the airport. Each successive commercial has continued a split second longer until now we have a new look at Godzilla’s feet stomping around. The looks at the monster have become clearer and clearer, until we get a couple pretty unobstructed views. You have to wonder, what we’ll see tomorrow when Entertainment Tonight debuts their extended look at Godzilla. Could be exciting.
