The Creator Film Review: Gareth Edwards’s Film Takes Us Journey Into Self-Knowledge and Diversity
Cast: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Allison Janney, Ralph Ineson, Marc Menchaca
Director: Gareth Edwards
Where to Watch: In Theaters
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 4/5 (four stars) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
The Creator marks the return to directing of Gareth Edwards, who after directing Rogue One, the prequel to Star Wars, returns to the sci-fi genre. This time he does it with a post-apocalyptic film, set in a dystopian future. We see how Artificial Intelligence was created by man to live with him and help him in everyday jobs. The concept of Artificial Intelligence has always inspired great cinema from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Terminator, passing through Blade Runner and more recently Her and Ex Machina, the story of how an intelligent machine becomes conscious has always fascinated storytellers, who have described its infinite possibilities through different tones and genres. In 2023, when Artificial Intelligence now really exists and its use is changing the way man exists in the world, the film imagined by Edwards therefore seems much more possible and realistic than its illustrious predecessors might have seemed. Without taking away the charm of science fiction which is starting to resemble reality more and more.
It seemed that the coexistence between the two species, given that Artificial Intelligence is now self-sentient, was going well until an attack by the AI caused a nuclear explosion in Los Angeles that killed millions of people. This forced the United States, and the Western world, to exile robots to the East. A film which, given the plot, should keep viewers glued to the screen, but unfortunately fails to do so. This is certainly compensated, however, by an extraordinary visual sector, which makes everything more immersive. The film starring John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, and Ken Watanabe was financed with a budget of over 80 million dollars and had a rather long production also due to the arrival of the pandemic as well as very in-depth scouting on the filming locations, a fundamental part for the success of the title. The aesthetics and effects (of which Edwards is a specialist) are indeed fascinating and we dare say fundamental for the proposition of an anti-imperialist war movie capable of uniting cyberpunk with a more spiritual dimension.
The Creator Film Review: The Story Plot
In the world of The Creator, Artificial Intelligence has evolved so much that it poses a threat to humans that they have started a global war to end all active synthetic beings, to prevent them from destroying humanity in turn. In a last-ditch mission to win the conflict, Joshua (John David Washington), a former Special Forces agent grieving the loss of his wife (Gemma Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill The Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI, known as Nirmata, who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end war and humanity itself. Joshua thus crosses enemy lines but discovers that the apocalyptic weapon he was tasked with destroying is an AI in the guise of a little girl (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).
Evocative images mark the beginning of The Creator. Those of a society in which, little by little, robots have managed to carve out an increasingly larger role for themselves. Until the implementation of AI and human faces made machines perfectly identical to humans, or perhaps ready to take over. At the center of The Creator are Artificial Intelligence and its potential dangers for humanity. A nuclear explosion caused by AI determines, in fact, the beginning of a war between the two factions: humans on one side, and Artificial Intelligence on the other. The film’s protagonist, Joshua (John David Washington), is an undercover agent in Asia, a territory where Artificial Intelligence has taken refuge after being banned from the West. Joshua is part of the team tasked with capturing The Creator, the one who developed a mysterious weapon capable of ending the war. A weapon to be eliminated, to guarantee men’s victory in the conflict. A weapon that however has the appearance of a little girl, named Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).
The Creator Film Review and Analysis
The Creator is a rather discontinuous film. The idea of creating a classic war blockbuster incorporating the theme of AI is undoubtedly fascinating, as is the aesthetic chosen by Edwards, which takes inspiration from Akira, Blade Runner, and Star Wars itself, finding a brightness and exotic charm that only the extraordinary Asian scenarios can give, but the writing fails to incorporate all the potential. What could have been a philosophical and existential treatise based on the differences and equalities between machines and human beings, but with an action movie twist, instead becomes a film in which robots are treated as an ethnic minority persecuted by white men. Which is also fine, but everything remains rather sketchy and placed in such a way as to have a good and a bad character as quickly as possible. Plus, at the end of the day, the hero doesn’t experience a real moral conflict and still comes from the Western side.
Joshua’s path to redemption has as its turning point the discovery of the other, but even this aspect remains touched only superficially, given that the essence of the relationship with Alfie (Yuna Voyles) remains a variation of the recently increasingly seen father relationship – daughter built on the road (quote not by chance, even if we are not exactly in a post-apocalyptic world here). Here, Alfie’s idea is very successful and offers truly evocative moments of cinema. His creation is undoubtedly the most optimistic of the film’s ideas and also constitutes Edwards’ great message of hope, which stages the utopia of thinking that the innocence of a little girl’s gaze has the power to end every war.
The flame of innocence in The Creator can only make us think again of Spielberg’s cinema, which often dealt with similar themes, but addressed them in different films. The British director, on the other hand, condenses everything into 2 hours and pennies, evidently not enough to give an organic nature to his entire story, which therefore often proceeds in fits and starts and with a rather syncopated rhythm, finding easy solutions, unsatisfying plots, didactic moments and rather basic insights. It’s a shame because there is a lot of potential instead, as evidenced by the strength with which the film suddenly picks up before the fourth act.
If you are expecting a war movie and a war between humans and robots, this is not the film for you. Because, even if there is indeed a war between these two factions, it is much more static and complex than one might think. The film is characterized by a pace that alternates dynamic moments with decidedly much slower ones, which is certainly not what the trailer theoretically promised us. Unfortunately, as often happens, what we might imagine from some scene before the film is not what we find in it. This is The Creator‘s biggest problem, the pacing. On the other hand, if that is the negative part, it must be underlined that this has a reason, which could easily be read in the message that the film transmits, the acceptance of oneself and others as one is. Because even if you wouldn’t think so from a first impression, this film talks about equality, taking up a very current theme such as accepting another culture and a new civilization.
Precisely this difficulty in accepting the presence of Artificial Intelligence is part of the personality of the protagonist of The Creator, John David Washington. The actor plays Joshua, a former special forces agent, who recently lost his wife (Gemma Chan). Man is recruited for a mission as important as it is arduous: to hunt down and kill The Creator, the elusive architect of the AI advance. In the hands of the latter lies the fate of the world, because he has developed a mysterious weapon, which could put an end to the war, but also to all of humanity. Joshua himself, during his journey and after having recovered the robot girl, begins to understand that despite everything, even AIs are beings with feelings and not just empty shells. Since he was a child, he has hated these creations of human beings, as during the explosion of the atomic bomb in Los Angeles he lost everything, family and friends. However, during the journey that sees him trying to defend little “Alphie”, he understands the importance of treating every sentient being the same, without contempt from one species to another.
Edwards wanted to give us a sci-fi film, certainly, but also very full of meaning and current. It addresses not only what could happen shortly, but also the global political situation. First of all, the creation of Artificial Intelligence is much closer than you think and technology is making giant strides in this direction. The Creator has made a further move, which could prove decisive for the success of the film. Hooking on the difficulty of integrating into a different society for non-EU citizens, who are too often rejected. The film is the exact transposition, certainly much more accentuated, of the difficulties of a multi-ethnic society which even today is not accepted by many and in which people, in this case AIs, are mistreated and rejected by those who are afraid or by those he just doesn’t understand them 100%, like John David Washington’s Joshua.
In more ways than one, Gareth Edwards brought Star Wars home. Also, above all, (re)delivering to his environment the hybrid of exasperated modernity and immutable tradition – the infinitely ancient and the infinitely young – which had such a part in building the mythology of the saga. The Asian continent, in its infinite cultural/ethnic/social declinations, is an inextricable harmony of old and new. George Lucas knew this and drew heavily on it. Gareth Edwards, who owes everything to Lucas, is aware of this. The Creator– as original as a film can be these days, synchronizing an old vision and old feelings into new modes of representation – borrows from the most disparate sources. The director himself takes care of clarifying some influences: Terminator, the meeting/clash of species against an apocalyptic background.
The lyrical sense of Terrence Malick’s image. Talking about the fallibility of perception, reflecting (sincerely but not too deeply) on reality, humanity, and authenticity, you quickly end up in the Blade Runner zone. The Creator is a film that accumulates many within it: action, science fiction, and sentimental chronicle. The palette of themes: love, family, even death. The evolution of the species is the key with which Gareth Edwards‘ muscular but soulful direction undermines the mother of all issues: the fragility of the human condition. Everyone ends up “shutting down”, humans and AI. The struggle for dominance is the desperate attempt to disguise, behind the din of war, a major existential problem. Joshua and Alphie’s response – it’s a good thing that Edwards and co-writer Chris Weitz kept the focus of such a dense film tight on the two characters – is a serene acceptance, as much as that is possible, of the ephemerality of life. And a colossal proof of love.
The Creator is a sci-fi anomaly that enhances the feeling beyond the simple parenthesis between one action scene and another. The representation is modern, without pandering instincts: John David Washington is the hero, strong and charismatic also thanks to his vulnerability. Madeleine Yuna Voyles passes through the film in the sweetness and fragility of a gaze that hides and flaunts, at the same time, the unsettling strength of Alphie, the child messiah with her unexpected potential. While Hans Zimmerhe enjoys disguising the usual sound without losing any of its pressing force, the image is modeled in the skillful combination of authentic environments and digital reconstruction. Further proof of coherence, this obstinate search for a compromise between nature and technology, tells an essential truth. Perhaps Gareth Edwards is unable, with The Creator, to fully exploit the many aspects of his film. But he has a vision and a clear sense of cinema and its potential, at the intersection between commercial vocation and intelligence of the proposal.
The expectations that accompanied the arrival in theaters of The Creator add to the curious synchrony of interest on the topic of AI and can do damage to the cause, if not handled properly. By endeavoring to show the issue from both technological and human points of view, slowly sliding from one to the other, it inevitably finds itself exposed to exploitation and controversy that is not very focused on the meaning of the story and its message (horrible word). Which, it must be said, is much closer to the human heart than a philosophical-scientific round table on evolution and the relationship between man and machine. Action, carefully crafted image, feeling, and intelligence, Gareth Edwards with The Creator puts an authorial stamp on contemporary science fiction.
The Creator is proof that good entertainment cinema can still be made without resorting to disproportionate budgets, big brands, and franchises. And this is above all why it deserves to be seen in theaters. Besides the fact that it would do very little on the small screen. As mentioned we are talking about a well-finished work from a technical point of view. Thanks to the direction of Edwards and the photography of Oren Soffer, assisted by the director of photography of Dune and The Batman, Greig Fraser (also here as producer). Do you need another reason to rush into the room? The music for The Creator is composed by Hans Zimmer. And you can hear it!
The Creator Film Review: The Last Words
The Creator stands out for its originality, managing to create a coherent puzzle of influences, carrying forward a discourse that, if not innovative, is at least coherent with the evolution of the main character. The Creator arrived with great expectations, reviews that praised Edwards’ poetics, even comparing it to Terminator 2, calling it the best sci-fi film of the last 20 years. Visually it is one of the best films of 2023 so far, but the inconsistent pace, which does not always keep viewers glued to the screen, certainly does not classify it as Terminator. The positive sides are certainly the visual ones, but Edwards perhaps remained too attached to Rogue One, and, the ending, conceptually and visually, is reminiscent of the Star Wars prequel.
The Creator Film Review: Gareth Edwards’s Film Takes Us Journey Into Self-Knowledge and Diversity - Filmyhype
Director: Gareth Edwards
Date Created: 2023-09-29 14:07
4
Pros
- A visually stunning and thought-provoking sci-fi thriller
- A must-see for fans of smart, action-packed science fiction
- A visually stunning and emotionally resonant film
Cons
- Sometime Feels Slow Paced
