Godzilla 2014: Gareth Edwards Shows Clips At SXSW, Audience Goes “Bananas”

Presented without any context of set-up from Edwards, the nighttime sequence opens on a above-ground train cart. On the train are Aaron Taylor-Johnson and a little Japanese boy he’s traveling with. The train comes to a sudden halt, and the panic transfers over to a military ocean liner where actor Ken Watanabe is surrounded by dozens of soldiers holding guns. Watanabe looks out into the ocean and sees the water rising up—rather, being pushed up by something enormous. Things then shift to a beach in Hawaii, where a dog is tied up to a tree and barking ferociously at the water. Violent, humongous waves form and start cascading onto the beach, prompting the pooch to haul ass towards the street, its leash ripping off. The dog runs down a street as the waves come hurdling towards it, eventually running into a crowd of fleeing people who get swept up by the water

Next, a gang of smart folks stand on rooftops and watch Army guys fire red flares into the night’s sky; on their way downward, the flares pass what’s clearly Godzilla’s end zone-sized thigh.

Back on the stopped train, Taylor-Johnson’s character noticed something out into the distance—a giant, insect-looking creature that’s not dissimilar to the Cloverfield antagonist, with numerous long, spindly legs, but with a flattened head. One of its legs strikes the cart, slicing it in half and sending many of its riders tumbling down to their deaths. Johnson’s holding onto a pole, and when the little boy shoots towards him, Johnson snatches him up and saves his life.

Outside the ravaged cart, the Cloverfield-ish monster is withstanding aerial bullet-spray when, with a gargantuan stomp, Godzilla’s ridiculously big leg comes into the camera’s frame. And then the camera pulls backward to show all of Godzilla, and…just, whoa. Burly and standing with its shoulders puffed up like Jersey Shore meathead ready to fight, it’s like the 1954 Godzilla if it’d eaten nothing but ‘roids, spinach, and protein shakes.

Just as diesel ‘zilla let out his ear-piercing new roar, the scene ended. Whether the God and that other monster are about to scrap Rampage style or tag-team the train cart is anyone’s guess.