69 years ago today, the movie industry was changed forever as Godzilla stomped its way into Japanese theaters, revolutionizing the monster movie as we would come to know it for generations. Now, he’s doing much the same as Japanese theatergoers head to see Godzilla Minus One—and although we’ve got to wait a little longer for him to head to our shores, a terrifying new trailer makes that wait a little more worth it.
The new trailer gives us a much better look at the scope of Godzilla’s rampaging presence in the new movie—which takes us all the way back to post-war Japan for a new take on Godzilla’s first assault on humanity.
Following the country’s process of rebuilding in the wake of the war, Minus One is told through the eyes of Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), a young man who returns from service to find his community on the brink—only for things to go from bad to worse when a monstrous creature rises from the waves to lay waste to everything in his path.
And by god(zilla), does he lay waste. Minus One is really playing up the horror and power of Godzilla in a manner akin to Shin Godzilla, Toho’s prior reboot of the legendary monster, did, but there’s something less alien about the King of all Kaiju’s presence here in Minus One that makes it feel very different—even beyond the fascinating constraints of its setting. A Japan with a restricted military in the process of de-arming much of its wartime strength having to confront Godzilla opens a ton of very intriguing opportunities that we cannot wait to see unfold.
Godzilla Minus One hits theaters in Japan today, November 3—but arrives in the U.S. on December 1.
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