Godzilla’ Extended Promo and TV Spots: Find Your Courage

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With the ‘Net buzzing about Captain America: The Winter Soldier now playing in U.S. theaters, it’s easy to forget that the 2014 Summer Blockbuster Season doesn’t begin until May (yes, well before the summertime actually starts), with such heavily-marketed franchises installments as The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and the Godzilla reboot leading the way.

Each of the Godzilla previews released to date has used the same formula to great effect; a vague sketch of the storyline (in short: there are giant monsters on the rampage), combined with intense end-of-world atmosphere and brief glimpses at the King of Monsters – and at least one fellow Kaiju – destroying various human cities as it continues its trek around the globe.

No surprise, a newly-released Godzilla extended TV spot (read: one-minute long TV trailer) doesn’t deviate from the course, meaning it’s just as enticing, yet mysterious as its predecessors. The promo does conclude with a nice straight-on shot of the gargantuan lizard, sounding off with its thunderous roar – or maybe this is all just a Men in Black situation, where Godzilla’s just sneezing and us silly humans are jumping to the wrong conclusion.

The same goes for these additional Godzilla international TV promos, which have made their way online. While it’s easy to appreciate the monster effects and sheer scale of the onscreen destruction as technical accomplishments, what keeps your interest is the sense that the reboot’s director Gareth Edwards’ (Monsters) is genuinely invested in the human side of this “natural disaster” – the impact it has on everyday people’s lives, and how their responses vary with regard to the mind-boggling situation they’ve been shoved into.

In order words, Edwards and the film’s credited screenwriter Max Borenstein (Seventh Son) at least seem to be aiming to produce a Godzilla movie that’s a heart-pounding, moving, and topical viewing experience all at once. We’re definitely not along in cheering them on to accomplish that goal.

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The Godzilla human cast includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen (Avengers: Age of Ultron), along with Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Ken Watanabe (Inception), Juliette Binoche (Cosmopolis), David Strathairn (Lincoln), and Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine).