The Creator 🤖 REVIEW:

Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with artificial intelligence, a former soldier finds the secret weapon, a robot in the form of a young child. Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One and Godzilla (2014) returns from a 7 year hiatus to bring about what has been dubbed a wholly original sci-fi epic dealing with a future war between humans and AI. What’s really nice about The Creator is that it’s not at all part of an existing franchise. It’s not a sequel, prequel, reboot, or retelling of a previously done story. With one great big exposition dump and montage at the very beginning, the movie clearly establishes this world in which AI has evolved to the point that humans have lost control over them. Have we seen movies with that same sort of basic premise? Countless times. What makes this one in particular work so well you may ask? It all comes down to the execution.

John David Washington plays Joshua, a hardened ex-special forces agent, still grieving over the unresolved disappearance of his wife. When he reluctantly gets recruited to hunt down and kill the “Creator,” he discovers that this so called weapon is in the form of a young child. Naturally, this creates complications that send us viewers on this unique journey. Let’s get the obvious out of the way. The performances across the board are stellar. Washington does a great job as the main character of Joshua. He’s stoic and feels tremendous guilt for the past, but thankfully, the actor also brings a much needed amount of levity to the moments that require it, specifically when dealing with the AI “Creator” child he dubs “Alphie.” Gemma Chan also delivers a fine performance as Joshua’s wife Maya even if her actual role as it pertains to screen presence can feel limited. Ken Watanabe plays Harurn, and as always he does an excellent job and it’s cool to see him as this leader of an AI army. The conversations between Joshua and Harun in particular about coexistence with AI/humans are thoughtful and harbor real world implications without ever coming off as overly preachy.

By making the mcGuffin an actual character in and of itself, Edwards finally is able to strike a sense of emotional resonance that I felt Rogue One and Godzilla (both movies I enjoyed) were missing out on. Admittedly, I’m not one to apply compassion nor empathy towards inanimate objects, no matter how real they may appear. However, I will say that the manner in which the complexities of dealing with supposed artificially sentient beings are far more mature and thought provoking than most sci-fi movies that cover the subject (and I’m a huge Terminator/Matrix fan, mind you). Child actors can be hit or miss, especially when they are a quintessential aspect of a major film, but Madeleine Yuna Voyles as Alpha-Omega "Alphie turns in a star making performance, hitting all the right dramatic, humorous, and emotional notes that are vital to making the viewer care about this technically non living thing.

In terms of the special effects, CGI, and cinematography, director Gareth Edwards and DP Greg Fraser/Oren Soffer were somehow able to make an 80 million dollar budget look like 200 million. The combination of practical effects, VFX, and the actors themselves brought to life these AI entities, whether it’s the more human hybrid looking ones or the robot androids. There’s even a giant American space station in the sky called “NOMAD” that lurks over New Asia which looks shockingly realistic and more tangible than most CGI spaceships in modern movies. Now, I was told by a fellow film critic that they were surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie, highlighting that it has a left wing leaning angle. I would say that the US government/Army using/misusing AI, the AI turning against humanity, and the government trying to cover up their human errors by placing blame on the AI isn’t so much “left wing” as it is something I wouldn’t put past our government to do. Create the problem, offer a militarized solution. Sound familiar?

I wouldn’t say there is anything inherently “bad” about the movie, but more so personal nitpicks I have. For one, there are some derivative story elements that have been done before in other similar sci-fi movies and one can argue these narrative beats are a bit predictable. The other thing is that I think the runtime could have been trimmed by about 10 minutes to tighten up the pacing in some areas during the second act. Besides those little gripes, I found this movie to be astonishingly better than I could have expected it to be. Hans Zimmer’s score is extremely distinctive from his other works, using a lot of futuristic synth-like techniques coupled with euphoric vocals at times. The climax and ending gave me goosebumps and provided one of the most emotionally powerful resolutions to a sci-fi film since Ad Astra and Interstellar. I would definitely buy this on 4K Blu-ray and I can see this movie becoming a modern science fiction classic over time.

Before I conclude this review, I’d like to point out how so many people like to complain that we aren’t getting any original movies nowadays, but when we do get them and they’re actually good, so many of these complainers don’t even see them, yet still continue to grumble. If you love film, sci-fi, or merely have an interest in the topical matters of AI, please go see The Creator in theaters. Overall, while there are noticeable similarities to other films dealing with the subject matter of AI, director Gareth Edwards’s The Creator is a thought provoking, visually exuberant, unabashedly ambitious, and emotionally resonant sci-fi epic that boasts a strong lead performance from John David Washington and serves as a step in the right direction for artfully made blockbusters that are not part of overly saturated franchises.