Godzilla is a Stone Cold Killa in New ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ Trailer (VIDEO)

As one of the only ardent defenders of 2014's Godzilla, allow me to say that it's not a great movie. 2017's Kong: Skull Island was much closer to what these movies need to be: dumb but fun. Godzilla tried to get too cerebral and disappointed a good many people who were expecting, you know, the title character to be in it more.

Since there is a concerted effort at hand to bring those two giant monster franchises together in next year's Godzilla vs Kong, Godzilla has decided to lighten things up for its second go-around Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as proven by a great number of stupid things in this trailer.

Bryan Cranston is great, but I don't need any kind of emotional investment in these characters. They're all giant monster fodder, and this film seems to be having fun with that. Exhibit A: Senate hearings about using giant monsters as a defense against giant-er monsters. Now we're on the same page, Hollywood.

Listen, you can still take the subject matter seriously within the world of the film, but you have to lean into the ridiculousness of it all. Give fans the giant monsters battles they've been yearning for, but also throw in some science mumbo jumbo and a decently respected actor in a terrible toupee and you've got my money. Just remember that these are based on schlocky Japanese movies. They're great, but they're schlock, plain and simple.

Don't cock this up the way Pacific Rim did by taking yourself seriously all of a sudden in the sequel. Lightening the mood is the way to go. Now if we could just get these monsters to fight in broad daylight in Vegas or something, we'd really have something on our hands here.

Godzilla: King of the Monsters comes to claim his throne on May 31, 2019.