3. Godzilla (2014)
As one of cinema’s most long-standing movie monsters, it was hardly a surprise when a modern Godzilla reboot featuring the titular gargantuan reptile was announced. Starring Bryan Cranston, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Ken Watanabe, the announced reboot was a much-anticipated affair owing to its star-studded cast. The release of the film’s trailer only served to heighten this excitement.
The trailer mostly follows Cranston’s scientist character Joe Brody as he attempts to convince his skeptical community of the existence of the titular monster. He’s supported by Taylor-Johnson’s character, Ford Brody, his on-screen son. Off the back of Breaking Bad‘s success, Cranston was one of the hottest stars in the world at the time, which made the trailer’s lies seem even worse upon the film’s release.
Though the trailer presents him as the protagonist, Joe Brody actually dies after a limited amount of screen time. It’s actually Taylor-Johnson who serves as the film’s human protagonist, despite the fact that the trailer hardly paid him any attention at all. It was insultingly misleading for those hoping to see Cranston head up a new monster movie franchise, leading to an overall sense of disappointment about the film.