Godzilla's Amazing Trailer (Film Analysis)

I want to talk to someone in charge. You're not fooling anybody when you say that what happened was a natural disaster. You’re lying! It wasn’t an earthquake, it wasn't a typhoon. Because what's really happening, is that you're hiding something out there. And it's gonna send us back to the Stone Age!

It’s February of 2014.  The first trailer for the upcoming American Godzilla reboot releases.  And it is amazing.

The trailer is beautifully edited, features chilling imagery and breathtaking cinematography, and is downright haunting in its musical score.  The trailer tactically hides any monsters from clear sight, but the few glimpses of Godzilla shows an extreme faithfulness to his Japanese depictions (far unlike the critically panned 1998 American adaptation).  Yet amusingly enough, the trailer’s selling point turns out to not just be the King of the Monsters himself, but a potent voiceover delivery from actor Bryan Cranston—known by many as the King of Meth.

Cranston had in the recent years rose to immense popularity and fame for his starring role in the critically acclaimed series Breaking Bad—where he plays a struggling family man who turns to cooking and selling meth after being diagnosed with stage-3 lung cancer—deservedly winning four Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor for his performance.  The Godzilla trailer couldn’t have picked a better time to drop, coming hot off the heels of Breaking Bad’s finale.  For once, an actor actually mattered in a Godzilla film.  Yet not only did Cranston matter, but he rivaled Godzilla in hype levels.  Put together in the same film, and it was the perfect publicity storm.

Everything was looking right for the film—Godzilla being faithfully portrayed, imagery and soundtrack on point, Bryan Cranston in the lead role.  Would America actually succeed in making a good Godzilla film (maybe even a great one)!?  In May 2014 of its release, I went with my wife and brother to see Godzilla.  My brother and I grew up watching the Toho produced Godzilla films and were knowledgeable in the franchise’s lore and kaiju.  My wife had never seen a Godzilla film before and knew practically nothing about the franchise—making 2014’s Godzilla her first experience with the series.  Someone fresh and someone experienced—these two were the ideal people to see Godzilla with.

Around two hours later we left the theater feeling—to put it lightly—mixed.  As a whole, I enjoyed Godzilla and watching it again in 2019, I still do.  Breaking it down into components, however, and my opinions became extremely polarizing—opinions that have only grown more passionate over the years.  On the one hand, Godzilla drops the ball completely in some of the dumbest ways possible, leading to one of the biggest disappointments I’ve experienced from 2010s cinema.  On the other hand, Godzilla has some amazing, brilliantly thought-out sections, including one of my favorite scenes, in all media, from the entire decade.  In-between these extremes, Godzilla has additional blunders and additional successes.  It’s a strange film that I both largely admire and look upon with utmost disappointment at how overall better it could have been.  I think the best way to discuss these conflicting opinions is to split them up—going over the pieces that greatly disappoint, and the pieces that soar high and ultimately redeem the film’s faults.

LINK TO PART 2: How Godzilla Squanders Potential in One of the Decade’s Biggest Disappointments