'Godzilla Minus One' Banner in Roppongi!

Godzilla Minus One ballyhoo at Toho Cinemas Roppongi. Photo by Brett Homenick.

Today, I went to Toho Cinemas Roppongi to check out The Creator (2023), the latest joint from Gareth "Stone Age" Edwards. While there, I spotted the banner above promoting Godzilla Minus One (2023), which comes out on November 3.

As for The Creator, well, I guess I don't have any particularly deep thoughts. I think it's Edwards' best film, but that really isn't saying much. I've only seen each entry of his filmography once, and that was when each one was new, so it's a little hard to rank them, but I suppose I'll give it a go. From best to worst, I'd probably rank them: 1) The Creator, 2) Godzilla (2014), 3) Rogue One (2016), 4) Monsters (2010). 

I saw Monsters on the plane when I was moving to Japan and was bored silly by it. I wanted to walk out on Rogue One by about the halfway point and only stuck around because the theater was packed, I was sitting in the middle of it, and I didn't want to create a disturbance by putting on my winter coat and suddenly leaving the theater. So, out of politeness, I stayed. (I mean, this is Japan, folks.)

There were some interesting ideas in The Creator, but, not only did the movie fail to build up to an exciting climax, it became less interesting as it went on. I understood what emotions it was going for, but the movie couldn't stand still enough to let those emotions wash over the audience. One example is when Alphie realizes she isn't going to Heaven because she isn't a real person but then immediately falls asleep on John David Washington's shoulder because, oh, well, them's the breaks, I guess. Time for some shut-eye.

Honestly, my favorite part of the film were the clips of Invasion of the Neptune Men (1961) and Evil Brain from Outer Space (1964) shown on television. I've been wondering for years whether we'd see any public domain tokusatsu show up on a TV in the background of a modern Hollywood flick, and I finally have my answer. Honestly, those clips were more of a tribute to the genre than all of the 2014 Godzilla.

Speaking of, I was also a bit amused (in a mordant sort of way) at the robot named G-14. (Get it?) I won't say it was an appropriate name given that the robot was literally a walking bomb, but I will say that its explosion was enough to send all of us back to the Stone Age.