Do you like monsters? Let me rephrase that. Do you like giant monsters engaging in an all-out war for planetary supremacy and destroying cities in their quest to do so? Then you’re going to love the first trailer for Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
The sequel to 2014’s Godzilla appears to share little with its predecessor. The cast is more or less all new, with Stranger Things‘ Millie Bobby Brown, Vera Farmiga, Kyle Chandler, Charles Dance, Thomas Middleditch, and The Shape of Water‘s Sally Hawkins all starring in the film. Ken Watanabe is the only member of the previous film’s main cast returning for the sequel.
But let’s face it: The human characters are just window dressing, the monsters are the real stars here. And this movie has plenty. The trailer shows off not only Godzilla, but also gives us our first looks at Rodan, Mothra, and the three-headed King Ghidorah. All of them look amazing, they’re easily the best-looking renditions for each classic character, and it seems like they’ll be getting a lot of action on screen.
2014’s Godzilla was criticized for not having enough of its titular star in the movie, but King of the Monsters doesn’t have this problem with Godzilla apparently getting twice the amount of screen time in the new film. His increased presence, along with his new Kaiju co-stars (of which there will be more in addition to the three known creatures, with Gamera possibly appearing in the trailer), suggests an all-out monster battle the likes of which we’ve never seen.
As for the story, the trailer suggests that Farmiga’s character — a Monarch scientist — seems to believe that the Earth is dying and the only way to bring it back to life is by unleashing its “original and rightful” rulers. She calls them “Titans,” but you know them best as Godzilla and his friends. It definitely looks like her opinion was wrong, because all of the monsters unleash some serious damage in the trailer; including torching Washington, D.C. Check it out below, and keep your eyes peeled around 1:07 for a possible Gamera cameo.
Godzilla: King of the Monsters hits theaters on May 31, 2019.
