It’s the cinematic rematch giant monster fans have wanted for nearly 60 years. The behemoth ape Kong taking on the gargantuan lizard Godzilla. The wait is finally almost over for Godzilla vs. Kong, and we finally got our first real look at what’s sure to be a grudge match of (possibly) Earth-shattering proportions. How many more euphemisms for “big” can I use? Well, watch the trailer and then tell me.
Not pulling any punches, are they?
The trailer begins with Kong. He’s gotten much larger in the time since Kong: Skull Island, but he’s nevertheless still a recognized world-saver. And apparently something very bad is going on because Alexander Skarsgård is dead set on bringing Kong to the mainland. To do so, Monarch will need to take a small girl to whom Kong has a bond. Rebecca Hall is exploiting Kong’s inherent empathy, which is at Kong’s very core as a character.
Legendary
But wait, if Kong is our hero does that mean…? Well, we don’t have to wait long for the answer. Godzilla attacks the vessel, seemingly hunting Kong. We learn from dialogue later in the trailer that Godzilla has been harming people all over the world. As Millie Bobby Brown and Kyle Chandler point out, that’s very unlike him. Something is apparently influencing and manipulating Godzilla for its own nefarious, apocalyptic purposes.
Something that stands out immediately is the color on display in the trailer. This version of Godzilla finally gets to demolish a neon-lit Tokyo. We also see several bioluminescent creatures. These are likely primordial critters from inside the Hollow Earth; as Hall mentions, it seems like there was a war and only Kong and Godzilla are left. This would suggest the war took place within the Hollow Earth.
But Godzilla can’t be the villain of the whole movie! That doesn’t track. Though the clips in the trailer show him fighting Kong a few times, it’s very likely those are all from the early part of the movie. Then who’s the main villain? Well there’s also a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it shot around 1 minutes 41 seconds of Shun Oguri’s character standing in front of a light-up schematic that says “Maximum Charge.” You can see what appear to be robotic lizard legs below the words. So… are we thinking Mechagodzilla here?
Even if the movie ultimately ends up with Kong and Godzilla teaming up, the tagline “One Will Fall” definitely has us worried. Godzilla is the king of the monsters. But, “Kong bows to no one,” so…
Godzilla vs. Kong will hit theaters and HBO Max very soon.
Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
