Just in case you are one of those people that use OMG as an actual word, remember that the origins came from a popular internet acronym that stood for “Oh My Godzilla.” Yes fellow OOUies, if you haven’t been living under a cliche idiom, you would know that Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures are hard at work on… Rebooting? Reinterpreting? Re-imagining? Re-somethening, the Godzilla franchise. A concept trailer created before production was leaked from Comic-Con, and before the studios asked all the sites to take it down, I was lucky enough to catch it! If you haven’t seen it, there is a chance you can still catch it here, although don’t be surprised if the studios bring down the hammer on that video as well. The teaser itself is rather interesting, and is worthy of analyzing. So let’s put on our professor specs, my lovelies. (If you aren’t able to see the trailer, I shall do my best to give you a visual via my poor vocabulary!)
Disclaimer: I am not entirely well-versed in the Godzilla mythos, nor am I an expert on Japanese culture. So if I say anything wrong, or there is additional information about this reboot you want me to know about, leave a comment please! Also feel free to crucify me…
The first thing to note is within the opening when the Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures logos are shown. They both don’t have their distinct trademark style, but instead have a kind of Japanese flare to them. The company names seem to have been written by a samurai using brush strokes. At first glance, it doesn’t seem to be a big deal. However, if you scour the internet, you’ll see posters of the film with some Japanese calligraphy in the background. I do not know what this is implying necessarily, but what I can guess is that it is going to lean more towards the original Japanese Gojira films. By that, I mean that this isn’t a reboot of Roland Emmerich’s masterpiece (Man, there really needs to be a sarcasm font). It seems that they are trying REALLY hard to separate this film from the travesty that was made in 1998, and putting in that Japanese flavor was probably done to attract the die hard Gojira fans by saying, “Oh yeah, we mean business.” Which leads us to our next point of interest: the direction.
Judging by the collage of shots given to us in the teaser, what we see is what looks like the aftermath of a cold-blooded attack (Get it? It’s because he’s a reptile). There are huge gaping holes in buildings, and the bodies of people are scattered across the grounds. These images are accompanied by a bleak soundtrack and monologue, which suggests that the tone of this film is going to be dark and serious. By that, I mean the premise of a radioactive lizard that grows into a giant rampaging monster with fire/laser breath that wreaks havok on the city will be done with a straight face. With all honesty as ridiculous as that sounds, if that were to actually happen it would be quite terrifying. No more is that camp factor that everyone enjoyed about the originals, we’re gonna get a Godzilla with a HUGE pair of swinging anatomically correct nuts. Again, it seems like they are trying to distance themselves from Godzilla (1998), because… well you already know. But let’s get to the thing you really care about. The real thing you are wondering about. What does Godzilla look like?
When I mentioned that “we’re gonna get a Godzilla with a HUGE pair of swinging anatomically correct nuts,” I meant that both figuratively and literally. This Godzilla… is freaking GARGANTUAN. It seems like this is probably the biggest Godzilla we have seen (Again, I may be wrong). His design is also pretty intense. He really looks like something that mutated from an earthly creature, and not like a guy in a rubber suit or an alien like the previous film. They really went for the big scale (because yeah, he’s a lizard) on this one.
Final thoughts: At first, I wasn’t too thrilled about another Godzilla film coming out, because quite frankly, Godzilla isn’t something that really grabbed my interest. I know that it has spawned a whole culture and that there is an incredibly passionate community out there, the franchise itself just really wasn’t for me. That, on top of giant monsters/aliens/robots fatigue made me cringe when they announced that another one of these will be coming out. Additionally, a red flag here is that it is a reboot/remake. However, this trailer was pretty enticing and grabbed my attention for a little bit, and the main argument I’ve always used against Hollywood remakes of foreign films being terrible would be Martin Scorsese’s own The Departed. So right now, I am cautiously interested. Also, Bryan Cranston is going to be in this movie. So I look forward to seeing him ingesting radioactive meth making him as giant as Godzilla and having the ultimate smackdown.
So fellow OOUies, have you seen the trailer? What did you think of it? Am I full of crap? What are your favorite giant monster/alien/robot movies? Whatever it is, comment below, let One of Us know!
Trailer watched via 4 Geeks Like You Facebook Page
Image used via Splatter-Shack
