Banish any doubts you might have had about director Gareth Edwards. The Monsters helmer understands that Godzilla is more than just a movie about a skyscraper-sized beast rampaging across a city. He demonstrated his love for the slow reveal in his 2010 feature debut, a low-budget film that saved its money shots for the final gauntlet, focusing instead on character development and tension-building in the opening hour. We’ll probably get our look at the monster much sooner in 2014’s Godzilla, but this latest trailer demonstrates that Edwards hasn’t forgotten about the importance of the little people.
We open on a monologue from David Strathairn, delivering a little pep talk to a group of soldiers preparing for a HALO drop – that’s “high-altitude, low-open” – into a hellish cityscape that’s been torn apart by the great beast. Check out that great first-person perspective shot through the HALO jumper’s face mask. More of that, please. Anything that puts the viewer right in the frame of mind of the tiny, insignificant human that is almost sure to be chomped to bits or smushed into a puddle of unrecognizable goo.
The monster has a tasty cast of talents to feed on. In addition to Strathairn, who fills a supporting role, Godzilla is led by stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Bryan Cranston, Elizabeth Olsen, Ken Watanabe, Juliette Binoche, and Sally Hawkins. Let’s start a pool on who among those makes it to the end in one piece. Cranston may be “the one who knocks,” but Godzilla is “the one who swallows full-grown humans whole as little more than an afterthought.” Sorry Walter White. Your luck might have finally run out.
Check out the trailer below. The movie’s out on May 16, 2014.
