Trailer Of The Week - Godzilla (1998)

With the trailer for Gareth Edwards’ hotly anticipated Godzilla making seismic waves across the web recently, what better time to revisit the promotional material for Hollywood’s last attempt at bringing Japan’s number one radioactive giant reptile to the big screen some sixteen years ago. Despite seeing both Léon and Ferris Bueller in wild pursuit of the lofty lizard, 1998’s Godzilla remains much maligned despite in hindsight being far from the worst big budget disaster flick Roland Emmerich has helmed. A lot of the vitriol stems from the way in which the character Godzilla was reimagined, with subsequent Toho releases taking ownership of Emmerich’s version of the beast and derogatively renaming it “Zilla”. No matter what your opinion of Emmerich’s Godzilla, it’s hard not to appreciate this trailer as a fantastically nineties-flavoured promo, complete with none-too-subtle suggestion that the film would both dwarf and trample over a certain other giant-reptile-themed summer blockbuster from five years earlier. Sorry, Roland, but this time hindsight isn’t quite so kind.

By Ben Broadribb. Ben is a regular contributor to Film Intel, having previously written at Some Like It Hot Fuzz. He is normally seen in the wild wearing t-shirts containing obscure film references. He is a geek, often unashamedly so. He's also on Google+ and Twitter.