Audiences see trailers of upcoming movies and are often instantly hooked with it’s content, but how often does the trailer misrepresent its respected movie? In recent years movies like Prometheus released in June of 2012, The Grey released in January of 2012 and Paranormal Activity 3 in October 2013 had trailers that captivated the audience into viewing the movie but at the same time tricked them into seeing a completely different film. The most recent movie that has done this exact trick is the 2014 remake of Godzilla.
After its’s release in Feb 2014 the first official trailer for Godzilla had over 9 million views in less than 2 days. The trailer begins with Bryan Cranston spouting exposition while scenes of destruction are shown. The trailer continues with action shots of the U.S military, short glimpses of Muto, (the antagonist) and Godzilla, (the protagonist), and scenes the main characters played by Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Ken Watanabe. The trailer then ends with a scene of Godzilla roaring towards an unseen object.
The movies release on May 16 2014 saw a large crowd of excited fans and new viewers of the radioactive monster. However, after they sat through the two hour film many were disappointed in the film giving it only 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. Mainly because in the trailer it seemed that Bryan Cranston was going to be the main human character, but after his death before the first act even ended it seemed the only reason he was casted was because of his Breaking Bad fame. Similarly, even though the movie is titled “Godzilla”, he barely makes an appearance. Yes, Godzilla does appear but when the action is just about to unfold it cuts to the less Bryan Cranston filled human aspect of the movie.
In the end “Godzilla” it self was it’s own movie compared to its trailer. The trailers misrepresentatiopn of the movies plot and cinematics proved to be plentiful. It’s precenting of Bryan Cranston just because of his “Breaking Bad” fame to gain a bigger audience, along with the lack of Godzilla and monster fights, helped to support the claim of misleading movie trailers.