Upcoming: Godzilla (New Trailer, More Insight)

It's been since December since the last update, and since then, a new Godzilla trailer has been released and more insight has been given on the plot. First, here's the theatrical trailer that released a few weeks ago.

Well, the first thing that I notice about this trailer is that opening line, "I want to talk to someone in charge." I'm wondering if that was an intentional reference to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it's possible that it's just a coincidence. The next thing I would pick out would be the shot at around 0:17. Notice those origami cranes looming over the city skyline like that? I seriously doubt that that was not a deliberate cinematographic move... perhaps foreshadowing?

But let's get to the important things. Have we learned anything new about the setting? Why, yes we have indeed. Gareth Edwards (the director) notes that this movie is about a global crisis and the trailer obviously is jumping all over the place. However there are a few shots that may hint to the main focus. Notice the desert setting and palm trees in many of these shots, then notice the Statue of Liberty. That background looks to be curiously unlike the New York harbor. Well, there are only three Liberty statues in the world and the only one that's in a desert is in Sin City. A Las Vegas setting seems like an incredibly unique idea for this movie, I don't think I've ever seen a monster movie that takes place there.

I love the idea that's suggested in this trailer that states that the nuclear tests taking place in the Pacific in the 50's didn't awaken Godzilla or mutate him from an iguana or something. No, they were trying to murder his ass. That's an amazingly un-cliche plot point for any giant monster movie, much more so for Godzilla.

Gareth pointed out in another interview that they are trying to capture an emotional aspect to the film rather than just go for straight dumb action. He said he expects people to tear up... not sure if he can make good on that promise but at least we can go into the theatre with the solace that it won't be a brain dead explosion fest. Evidence to this emotion is Bryan Cranston's performance, which we get to see a bit more of here. There's that one shot at 1:37 where he gets all choked up, presumably because he's being forced to part with whomever is on the other side of that closing blast door.

Also, Ken Wantanabe, whom you may remember as Ra's al Ghul from Batman Begins, has a great monologue in the latter half of the video. What role he has in the movie, there's no way to predict, but this part here almost makes him out to be an antagonist (which doesn't make that much sense, really).

Oh, and fuckin' a! We finally get a good glimpse at the new and improved King of the Monsters. It's a brief shot of him making his iconic roar and it only lasts for a few fleeting seconds, but hell, it's by far the clearest shot we've gotten to date. I really dig the updated image from what I've seen of it. It's clearly a new look but it's still recognizable as the Godzilla we all know and love, unlike the 1998 one which was so un-Godzilla like, it was renamed Zilla by Toho.
As for the enemy monster(s), there are all sorts of  forumers making all sorts of predictions. I've heard everything from Gigan to the Smog Monster being predicted, so what we'll end up with in the theatre is anyone's guess. The spider-like creature that I mentioned in my last post is still up in the air and the filmmakers have hinted at something called Muto which is sounding like it's going to be some kind of mutate insect type creature. I wonder if that's what that bizarre appendage at 2:07 belongs to. Speaking of which, go back to those hanging origami cranes from before. I wonder if that's implying that they will be more than one of those things... and/or that they can fly. But this is all just fan-made conjecture, what this Muto thing really is, no one can be certain.

Whatever all of these new hints and trailers truly mean, we can't know until we're in the theatre on May 16th. It's great to see that this film is shaping up to be something memorable made by someone who actually cares about the fans and the movie (and of course, Godzilla himself), rather than just someone who's in it to rape the name and be paid seven figures. Recent monster movies haven't seen much success, with Pacific Rim being a box office failure and critics speculate this is because the giant monster genre is old, tired and dead. I think this movie is going to prove all of them wrong. May 16th couldn't come soon enough and with so much of the movie being kept hush-hush under lock-and-key, it'll be fun going into the place not knowing what to expect. See you there.