It goes without saying that AI has been a rather hot topic lately. It seems to have permeated just about every facet of our lives without us even realizing it; job recruiting, sports betting predictions, resume and essay writing, and yes, even script and story writing. Thankfully, the WGA was able to keep generative AI out of the stories we tell, but that still doesn’t stop the Hollywood machine from making movies about that very thing.
So “The Creator” comes at a rather strange time in our discourse surrounding its themes, and while I’m not ready to scream Skynet takeover, it does put the film in a rather precarious position base on what it chooses to engage with. There is nothing unique about Humans vs AI or Humans vs The Machines, but that conversation now more than ever is at a fever pitch, and “The Creator” should be the film to take us further into the space and spark fruitful conversations about such topics.
Unfortunately, “The Creator” is all style and no substance, unable to truly match its bold and dazzling visuals with its mundane and at times outright clumsy script. For something entering theaters at what seems like the perfect time, “The Creator” should feel far more engaging and important than it actually ends up being, which is an unfortunate victim of Gareth Edwards‘ direction. Edwards clearly understands action and visual effects, but really struggles to communicate any kind of statement or value to what it all means. Look, I’m all for a scathing critique of the American Military Industrial Complex. But “The Creator” has far too many ambitious ideas without any genuine understanding as to why they matter or what to do with them once they enter into the story. The end result is a masterful demonstration of world building but a glaring inability to inhabit that world with interesting characters and a compelling story. “The Creator” ends up a hollow piece of cinema; a boundary pushing world of visuals bogged down by a lackluster script and undercooked sci-fi ideas.
Edwards (“Godzilla” 2014, “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story“) wrote and directed the film, reuniting with his “Rogue One” co-writer Chris Weitz (who also wrote “Pinocchio…” the unspeakable Disney remake one, not the stellar, award-winning Guillermo del Toro one). “The Creator” follows Joshua (John David Washington) a hardened ex-special forces solider grieving the disappearance of his wife after a raid gone wrong. After an unexpected bomb leveled Los Angeles presumably set off by AI years before, the machines and humans have been at war ever since. America has banned AI and scours the world to destroy AI bases using their trillion dollar weapon of mass destruction space ship called Nomad. Joshua is reluctantly recruited to search and kill The Creator, the elusive architect behind the AI and who is said to have created a weapon so powerful it could end the war for good. As Joshua and his team travel deep into enemy territory, he quickly discovers that not everything is as it seems, and the enemy very well may be the people closest to him and the weapon may actually be humanity’s savior, not its destructor.
There is a lot to like about “The Creator,” and I’ll be the first to admit that the glaring script and narrative issues are magnified to me and may not matter as much to others. For starters, it is one of the most visually stunning sci-fi films I’ve seen in a very long time. Edwards masterfully utilizes every single frame and effect at his disposal, creating a world believably inhabited by machines and shows us big sweeping landscapes and skylines of how much this dystopian world could change. In a world of overblown budgets that look and feel pedestrian and muddled at best, Edwards manages to make the most of his $80 million budget. “The Creator” unequivocally stands high above its peers, creating a visual feast unlike anything you’ve seen for half the budget. THIS is how you utilize visual and practical effects. It is genuinely beautiful to behold, and regardless of how the story grabs you, “The Creator” is an exhilarating watch.
But films can’t simply be pretty to look at. There has to be something else beneath how good it looks to feel complete and compelling. Yes, I hold BOTH “Avatars” to this standard, and refuse to give either a pass simply because James Cameron knows how to use technology better than anyone working today. “The Creator” suffers from that same issue; a gorgeous, eye popping world with nothing to remember it by other than how pretty everything looks. There are some glaring flaws in the script that I just could not overlook, namely the moral ambiguity of its characters, the shoddy and almost eye rolling dialogue, strange editing choices, and rather mundane pacing. So many characters operate under the “because the script says so” ideology rather than acting with any sort of actual character driven motives, and “The Creator” becomes increasingly exhausting to care about anyone or why they’re doing what they’re doing the more time we spend with them.
I want to be clear; this is not an indictment of anyone’s performances. Washington is giving everything he has to this role, running the gamut of emotional range and working overtime to elevate a very poor script and even poorer character. Gemma Chan in her brief screen time is excellent as always. Chan is such an incredible performer who conveys so much pain and emotion behind her eyes with every look, and it’s a shame she’s not given more to do more often. Not just in “The Creator” where she’s kind of all but wasted, but across her entire career she is relegated to supporting characters when she could very well command the screen as a lead. Even newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles as Alphie (the AI weapon who turns out to be a child) is doing all she can to instill some humanity into the machine. They are all held back by what’s on the page, with “The Creator” unable to provide them with anything meaningful to drive them or their decisions.
“The Creator” is a craft film, one that excels in its visuals, landscapes, cinematography and even sound design to create a unique and boundary pushing sci-fi entry. But sadly there’s little else to hold onto once the visuals fade, and what’s left is a collection of unrealized ideas and scrambled ambitions that collide in a mush of theme-less storytelling. It’s a shame, too. Because “The Creator” is ripe with commentary and something say beneath its gorgeous surface. We’re left wondering if Edwards is incapable of injecting his stories with engaging principals or simply choose not to engage with it in any sort of meaningful way.
“The Creator” should be an inspiring and thought provoking piece of work, one that sticks with you long after the credits roll and forces discussions about its implications and what it all means. Instead, we’re left with nothing to say about humanity, technology, and the relationship with each as it pertains to our current climate, and can only leave the theater with the singular thought that everything looked pretty cool. And sure, “The Creator” certainly looks cool as hell. I just wish it had something more to say beyond that.
This review as not written by AI.
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars
“The Creator” is now playing in theaters. You can watch the trailer below.
