The Creator (2023)
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The Creator Movie Review
The Creator is a 2023 science fiction action film directed by Gareth Edwards and starring John David Washington. It is a very underrated, visually dazzling and interesting sci-fi flick.
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“Execute her or we go extinct“
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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 is an interesting director. I didn’t love any of his previous movies, even including ‘Rogue One’, which was quite overrated to me. But with The Creator, he has finally found his footing as he got to execute his knack at creating amazing visuals and superb action set pieces while benefitting from his first genuinely good screenplay. Chris Weitz obviously helped him out as a co-writer here as the script is surprisingly sophisticated.
At a time when the media is hell-bent on making everybody irrationally paranoid about A.I. (artificial intelligence that isn’t at all intelligent as anybody who has ever used ChatGPT would let you know), this movie comes as a breath of fresh air. The history of science fiction as a genre is full of stories that warn us about the dangers of artificial intelligence, so having a story that is the exact opposite was not just refreshing, but also quite daring.
We are living through an era where we have not just one but a couple of wars raging all over the globe. Thus, The Creator’s anti-military bent was quite welcome. The movie in particular pokes fun at American militarism characterized by excessive paranoia and shoot first and ask later tactics that they have employed throughout all of their horrendous military practices. I did find the movie’s Vietnam setting from a thematic standpoint too on-the-nose, but other than that, its depiction of war-hungry humans being afraid of these peaceful robots and starting a war with them out of irrational fear and ignorance rang true as this is how humans have behaved throughout millennia now.
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While the film’s depiction of A.I. and how they can normally co-exist with humans is refreshingly devoid of technophobia and quite bold, the overall storyline is more straightforward and standard than those themes would suggest. What we have here is yet another Hollywood take on a father figure protecting a child against enemies and becoming a better person in the process. While we’ve seen this scenario playing out before a million times, I did not mind it as what works works, and that dynamic really worked here.
I am really not a fan of John David Washington, who I find to be a mediocre actor for the most part. But in this movie, he was wonderfully cast and I would like to see him more in these blockbuster flicks instead of indie dramas. He is physically bigger here, which fitted the role, and although the character was underdeveloped, the actor made Joshua Taylor quite memorable.
Madeleine Yuna Voyles was wonderful and quite expressive in the role of Alphie, a robotic stimulant capable of remotely controlling technology. Her powers made sense in the context of this futuristic world and she was by far the best and most interesting character in the film. Gemma Chan and Ken Watanabe were perfectly good in their admittedly smaller roles, but Allison Janney herself relished the opportunity to play a villain as she was quite memorable.
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By far The Creator’s biggest strength apart from its exceptional high-concept premise is the power of its visuals. I was amazed that the budget for this movie was less than 100 million. In an era when green-screens are used endlessly and when Marvel movies cost 200 million to make and are atrocious to look at, this film came as a breath of fresh air. For once I watched a recent film that did not look like a blurry 2000s CGI fest, but a genuinely well made, gorgeous to watch picture that used CGI sparingly while grounding it in real life scenery effortlessly.
The Southeast Asian landscapes were perfectly utilized into the action and storytelling. The high-tech was consistently intriguing to observe with the highlights being the A.I. themselves and the various stunning aircraft. I personally have always gravitated toward the mixture between high-tech and nature, which is why the look of this film thoroughly appealed to me. The juxtaposition of futuristic tech with the stunning landscapes filmed mostly in beautiful Thailand never ceased to amaze me.
The Creator looks polished and highly realistic with the design of the A.I. being particularly unique. There is also the added element of those incredible action set pieces that are reminiscent to the ones from ‘Rogue One’, but done even better. Every single action scene was gorgeously shot, executed and thrilling to watch. I was never once bored watching this film as its SF ideas coupled with thrilling action made me engaged throughout.
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Yes, the third act is standard Hollywood blockbuster fare, but I just loved watching an old-fashioned American crowd-pleaser as they used to make them with better effects, less politics and more genuinely entertaining elements. The score, sound and acting are all terrific too while the directing from Edwards is his best and most confident yet.
At a time when the media is hell-bent on making everybody irrationally paranoid about A.I., The Creator comes as a breath of fresh air. The history of science fiction as a genre is full of stories that warn us about the dangers of artificial intelligence, so having a story that is the exact opposite was not just refreshing, but also quite daring. We also have a couple of wars raging right now, so the film’s anti-military bent was welcome too. Yes, the flawed protagonist-cute child dynamic at the film’s core was familiar and the movie was clearly influenced by numerous other SF properties, but its pro-A.I. messaging was something unique and different. The third act is standard Hollywood blockbuster fare, but there is also a lot of old-fashioned charm to be found in this film that is for once devoid of needless politics, terrible effects and annoying action. The action set pieces were superb here while The Creator’s visuals were astonishing to behold and the world building truly outstanding. The juxtaposition of intriguing futuristic high-tech and Southeast Asian natural landscapes made for a stunning backdrop. This movie’s budget was less than 100 million and yet it looked infinitely better than every Marvel movie with twice the budget.
My Rating – 4.5
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