8 Sci-Fi Movies Built On A Lie

6. Godzilla

lucy scarlett johansson
Warner Bros. Pictures

Obviously, the headline act of the 2014 do-over of Godzilla was the titular King of the Monsters. But still, the pre-release buzz led us all to believe that Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were to be the other main players alongside Big G.

Instead, those no-good sons of b*tches lied to us all by going and killing off Cranston's Joe Brody in the film's opening act.

This was a Bryan Cranston whose star had never shone brighter, with Godzilla hitting cinemas barely six months after the stunning Breaking Bad had come to a close. Cranston had become one of the most familiar faces in the acting world, and so him anchoring Godzilla as a father-son duo with Taylor-Johnson's Ford Brody seemed like a masterstroke.

Not only did killing Cranston's character so ridiculously early in the movie shock audiences, it made viewers feel like they'd had the rug pulled out from under them. And not just that, Aaron Taylor-Johnson didn't have enough presence to hold the film together, with not even an impressive turn from Elizabeth Olsen able to save Godzilla from Taylor-Johnson's painfully wooden performance.

Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.