Trailer watch: Godzilla (2014)

King kaiju returns to stake his claim as film's preeminent monster.

Having laid dormant for more than a decade, one of the most celebrated monsters of cinema returns to the big screen in Hollywood's second imagining of Japan's biggest import. Godzilla, the much anticipated new film in the long running franchise stakes claim as the preeminent city-destroying beast once again next May.

Starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, David Strathairn and Juliette Binoche, Godzilla is the "epic rebirth to Toho’s iconic Godzilla, a spectacular adventure pitting the world’s most famous monster against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity’s scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence."

The film is the spiritual successor to the 1998 Roland Emmerich film of the same name. That film, while doing fairly well at the box office, failed to impress critics and fans of the series with its hokey dialogue and much revamped monster. Next year's Gareth Edwards-directed film however, looks to be true to the original Godzilla concept, with the monster looking more like the traditional Japanese vision. I am however, one of the few that enjoyed the 1998 version of the film, but this new movie certainly looks much larger in scale and far less comical than its predecessor. The trademark Godzilla roar at the trailer's end was all I needed to be on board come next May.

The trailer unfolds in a strange serenity; a beautiful descent from the skies into the destruction, madness and chaos of a world torn apart by monsters. Straitharn's narration gives the film gravitas, and the smoke-clad unveiling of Godzilla almost awe-inspiring.

Godzilla features a screenplay co-written by Frank Darabont, Max Borenstein and David Callaham. If we're lucky, Puff Daddy and Jimmy Page will be nowhere near the soundtrack.

May 16th, 2014, Gojira returns.