Worth: $15.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney, Ralph Ineson
Intro:
… while the world is a little more interesting than the story it tells, it’s still a decent yarn that imagines a world where AI can learn and grow and not just steal journalists’ jobs and require help to recognise fire hydrants.
Original science fiction movies, ie. films not based on existing IP, are few and far between at the cinema these days. For the most part, this is an era of remakes, reimaginings, reboots, adaptations, sequels, prequels, requels and various other terms that mean “we have too much money and too little imagination”. So, when a film like The Creator comes along, a genre flick that isn’t banking on nostalgia or a pre-existing fanbase, it’s always good news. Even better when it comes from a talented director like Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One). And, although the film has its problems (we’ll get to those shortly), its mere existence is worth celebrating.
The Creator is set in a fascinating alternate future, where AI is ubiquitous and incredibly advanced. A new age of human and robot cooperation could have taken place, but a nuclear blast in Los Angeles, allegedly caused by an AI, has led to America declaring war on robotkind and hunting it down all over the world. We follow Joshua (John David Washington), a grizzled ex special forces agent, who lost his wife Maya (Gemma Chan) and unborn child during an operation that went bad five years earlier. But now, Josh is being called back into action as a new AI weapon has been created, one that looks suspiciously like a child, named Alpha One aka Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).
The Creator is a gorgeous looking film, set in a genuinely intriguing world that offers tantalising hints of rich and detailed backstory. It’s something of a surprise, then, that the actual plot of the film is so conventional. The ‘grizzled older man looking after a special/magic child’ trope has been used recently to great effect in Logan and The Last of Us, and as a result, it’s starting to feel overly familiar. Happily, the cast are so solid – with Allison Janney and Washington both doing excellent work – and the direction so slick, that for much of the runtime you probably won’t notice how safe the narrative plays. And look, this is an engrossing film, with striking imagery and standout moments. However, it’s unlikely to ever truly shock or surprise you.
There are also a couple of niggles in the writing, with one major plot revelation dropped in a single line of dialogue and never talked about again, and a few moments where characters decide to take the dumbest course of action for reasons known only to themselves. Still and all, The Creator is a visually sumptuous, thematically rich and at times exciting sci-fi flick with solid performances and deft direction throughout. And while the world is a little more interesting than the story it tells, it’s still a decent yarn that imagines a world where AI can learn and grow and not just steal journalists’ jobs and require help to recognise fire hydrants.
