'Godzilla: King of the Monsters' Trailer 2 Breakdown
Yes I know this isn’t from the trailer but man is it cool!
Hello everyone! So one of our new patrons requested that I actually do the breakdown for Trailer 2 even though it is now one month since the release. I of course was thrilled to take another deep look through the trailer and find all of it’s hidden secrets. Let’s dive in!
One of the first shots in the trailer is a bunch of dead fish floating on the surface of the ocean. Since we the know the Oxygen Destroyer is playing some sort of role in the film that would be my guess for the context of this scene.
Crowd running from the giant Rodan after he awakens from the volcano in Mexico. This looks to be one of the more thrilling titan-human interaction sequences in the film. You can really tell Michael Dougherty’s love for our favorite big firey Pteranodon.
This shot is extremely similar to a shot in the first trailer and this is definitely Washington DC being wiped out. The first trailer showed Rodan flying around but in this trailer you can clearly see Ghidorah up in the clouds. Could they be teaming up in some way or are they fighting eachother and wrecking DC in the process? Also this shot seems to be from inside of some sort of aircraft (maybe the big bomber looking super X plane).
Very cool shot of Rodan emerging from the volcano! I’m guessing this scene takes place right after the explosion from the first trailer.
Here we have the Antarctic base where Ghidorah is sleeping. Keep this shot and this plane in mind for a couple of interesting edits later in the trailer.
Ah yes this is the first big surprise of the trailer, some sort of scorpion/spider Titan popping up out of the ground. Mike Dougherty has spoken several times about there being a few other creatures in the film but I really didn’t think we’d get a good look at any of them in the trailers. Lot’s of people have speculated that this might be a cameo of the Toho kaiju Kumonga but I really doubt that. Weider things have happened I suppose but fans shouldn’t get there hopes up.
Thomas Middleditch, who has been described as the liason between Monarch and the US government is giving a speech to the supreme court about the new Titan’s being discovered and the threat they pose. You can see the back of the heads of a couple of returning characters here as well but we’ll talk about them in a second.
Rodan taking flight for the first time after waking up. You get a really good look at his face within the smoke here but the most interesting thing here is the big super X bomber plane flying away. Is this Monarch’s plane or somebody else’s?
Mountains move in the Monsterverse! All kidding aside this is the second monster in the trailer that we had absolutely no idea about until now. Fans are screaming that it’s Anguirus or Baragon but I’m sticking to my theory that this is another original Titan. Mike Dougherty mentioned designing some new monsters in an interview back in the day.
Another look at the underwater city from the first trailer. There seems to be some sort of lava flow at the bottom.
Godzilla stares back from the ocean depths while his dorsal plates light up. We have seen this scene before but you cannot deny the beauty of this scene. This movie has already won me over with it’s cinematography but it’s great that I keep getting little treats like this shot.
Mothra Larvae full body shot! I love the look of the larval form and how it has color similarities to the adult form we see later in the trailer. The color blue is being used for every shot of the '“good” monsters and I love it.
Adult Mothra showing off her “God Rays” to a human. I think this may be Kyle Chandler’s character but that’s just a hunch.
Rodan flying over Mexico and his shock wave causes the poor humans to go flying in his wake. I love how his silhouette here is quintessential Rodan. Like If you showed me this image with no context I would assume this was a screenshot straight from a Toho film. Beautiful design work!
NOT THE DUNKIN’ DONUTS! GHIDORAH DO YOU HAVE NO SHAME!? Seriously though what is with these movies and their donut partnerships. First Krispy Kreme in Power Rangers and now…
Ghidorah’s big old spikey tail comes swinging by the camera. I love this shot because it mirrors the Godzilla reveal shot from the first trailer for Godzilla (2014). Very cool. This definitely takes place in Boston at Fenway Park which is important to know because the location changes in the next shot.
And now we are back in the Antarctic to get our first full body shot of the king of terror himself! Remember how I told you to pay attention to the Plane landing at the base? Well here it is on the ground in front of Ghidorah. Also there is one heck of a snowstorm going on!
CCH Pounder is in this movie?! She voiced Amanda Waller back in the old DC shows and is a great actress.
Tom’s character looks super nervous here after CCH Pounder made her little pet remark. I’m guessing it’s because his boss is sitting right behind him.
Admiral William Stenz is back baby! It’s really great to see a few characters from 2014 returning to keep continuity.
Ken Watanabe always gets the greatest lines!
Godzilla isn’t looking so good here. I’m guessing this is in the underwater temple due to the lava flow and clearly the man in the suit is Dr. Serizawa. In the first trailer we saw him walking dramatically up some steps with lava all around him. Looks like he was going to visit a not so healthy Godzilla.
Oh look another human/Godzilla connection scene. I wasn’t super sold on the scene in 2014 with Ford but this looks to be between Godzilla and Serizawa which actually is pretty poignant. I’m not sure of the exact context but this could be an interesting twist on the Godzilla/Serizawa relationship from 1954 Godzilla.
I don’t think Madison saying “Do you think he’ll be ok?” is referencing Godzilla here. Maybe her dad? The person she is speaking to might be her mom.
Man when Godzilla wants to move he can move! He seems to have gotten tired of the humans looking at him from the sub.
Madison and some scientists looking over a railing in the Temple of the Moth. How do we know where they are you ask? Well in the background there is a very familiar mural…
The devil has three heads indeed! Jesus this Ghidorah can pull off some nightmare fuel expressions.
Something falls from the upper atmosphere with the telltale golden lightning and storm that say Ghidorah is nearby. Is he falling though?
Wait is that a single tail? Oh my god I think that may be Godzilla!
Rodan shows off his speed by catching up to a jet.
Wow look at her! Unlike the S.h. Monsterarts figure we really get a good look at her bright vibrant colors. Also she’s definitely got some fighting arms as Michael Dougherty talked about. I like it!
So it looks like she may be having an aerial battle with Rodan in this sequence. Look at the fire in the background behind her.
So this is clearly right after the sequence where Ghidorah wakes up. Godzilla must show up right away since the plane that was in front of Ghidorah earlier is still there. Also geeze the size difference is amazing to see. A lot of fans have also noticed that this also may be Dougherty playing a little fan service since it almost exactly mirrors a shot from the Heisei Godzilla Vs King Ghidorah.
Man this really shows off how amazing the CGI is in this film. On the top right you can see Godzilla has a large chunk of skin missing over his left eye. I’m pretty sure this is from the very end of the film after the big battle since he didn’t have this battle damage in the shot with Serizawa.
While Ghidorah is charging up his Gravity beams you get a good glance at the level of facial expressiveness we should expect from him.
GRAVITY BEAM!
So here we have the aftermath of the big explosion from the last trailer. There looks like there is a ton debris including some ship remains getting blasted away.
Look at those fuzzy Moth antenna!
The face of Legendary Mothra might be slimmed down from her Toho counterparts but she still looks extremely recognizable. Her wings look like they glow blue when she is on the attack.
Ok well it looks like the Super X bomber plane crashes hard at some point. This looks like the antarctic but I’m not actually sure since we see the ship flying towards Ghidorah while he’s flying.
Can we talk about how stupid it is that the military continues to use TINY RIFLES to attack the CITY SIZED TITANS? No? Is it just me??
Great look at Rodan’s full design! He’s chasing after the Super X bomber and is about to get his big trailer moment. I love the beak that is so razor sharp that it almost forms teeth.
Godzilla continues his roar from the first trailer and begins his charge towards his rival alpha predator Ghidorah. He breaks into a full blown run which some find strange looking but I personally think it shows that Godzilla is taking this seriously now.
There’s a really cool visual cue that I don’t think people have picked up on in the last moments of the trailer. The lightning coming from the sky behind Godzilla is always blue and the lightning behind ghidorah is always yellow.
Ghidorah using his wings to propel himself towards Godzilla. I don’t think he will spend that much time in this position but he still looks super menacing.
There’s that yellow lightning I was talking about. Love that visual flare.
And of course the trailer ends on a big clash in Boston which takes place in the climax of the film.
And there we go! Wait whats that? You say I skipped a part of the trailer? Hmmm oh! You must be talking about how there’s a huge spoiler that was revealed by a toy in the trailer. Fans are being extremely rabid when it comes to possible spoilers for this film, so if you care about that sort of thing then stop reading the article here. But if you don’t care-
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
S
Well fans what we see here in these two trailer shots is definitely our first glance at Burning/Fire Legendary Goji. When the trailer first came out some fans misindentified this as being Rodan but if you look clase enough you can Godzilla’s big clawed hand moving behind the building that is melting/burning. I’m pretty sure this form is how Godzilla is going to defeat Ghidorah but what I’m not sure if this is a temporary power-up or something that may come back to haunt Goji in the future. Only time will tell!
And that’s the full breakdown for trailer 2! Sorry it took so long once again but now we have only 4 moths until the film releases. It’s almost here everyone!
Did I miss something in the trailer? How pumped are you for King of the Monsters? Let us know in the comments!