The Creator Review

In a media landscape of franchises milked for everything they’re worth, 20^th Century Studios has done something remarkable: giving audiences an original, special effects-loaded sci-fi film.

In the future, a nuclear strike on Los Angeles leads to the United States outlawing A.I. and destroying any remaining robots in the nation. A.I. is given sanctuary in New Asia, which is at war with the United States. Joshua (John David Washington), a veteran of the war is approached by General Andrews (Ralph Ineson) and Colonel Howell (Allison Janney) to join a special forces mission to find the creator of A.I., Nimata, and the superweapon they are creating. What Joshua finds is a robotic child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) with the potential to end the war.

The Creator comes from Gareth Edwards, a filmmaker who gained prominence through his low-budget sci-fi film, Monsters. It led him to work on the Godzilla and Star Wars franchises. However, there were reports that LucasFilm wasn’t happy with Edwards’ work on Rogue One leading to Tony Gilroy reworking the film and directing the reshoots. The Creator was set to be Edwards’ comeback film, and he has delivered something that film fans have longed for.

The cinematic climate has changed in recent years. Studios are more dependent on franchises and established properties. Disney had developed a tentpole-only strategy. Nevertheless, this reliance on franchises has begun to falter, as budgets inflated due to the effects of COVID-19, and 2023 has witnessed numerous box office failures. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Flash, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One all had massive budgets and underperformed at the box office. The biggest films of the year were Barbie and Oppenheimer, and like those films, The Creator was an auteur-led film.

The Creator felt fresh and was a throwback at the same time. It sounds like a contradiction, but there’s a reason for this statement. The Creator felt fresh because it wasn’t based on an established property: it was Edwards’ baby. It also felt like a throwback to sci-fi films from the late noughties/early 2010s, when there was a flood of high-concept sci-fi films like Moon, District 9, and Looper. It’s fitting because Edward made his name with his debut feature film Monsters and he was like Duncan Jones and Neill Blomkamp because he was making original sci-fi films on low-to-modest budgets.

The Creator borrows elements from Monsters. Both are sci-fi movies where an unusual pairing makes a hazardous journey. Monsters was about a man and woman travelling through an infected zone of Mexico to reach the American border, whilst Joshua and Alphie in The Creator journey through a war zone and witness how A.I.’s culture has evolved.  Edwards stated that Apocalypse Now was an influence on The Creator it was easy to see why since it showed characters travelling during a war to find someone who had made a remote area their personal fiefdom. It’s a strong narrative structure since the basis of Apocalypse Now was Heart of Darkness and that story influenced the sci-fi film Ad Astra and video game Spec Ops: The Line. The story of a reluctant man having to protect and escort a child/young person of great importance made The Creator similar to The Road, Children of Men, and The Last of Us.

Edwards’ greatest strength as a filmmaker is his world-building. Monsters had great world-building and The Creator followed that. The film started with a montage of news clips showing the rise of A.I. and how it helped humanity before the attack on Los Angeles. There was a fantastic mix of rural Southeast Asian landscapes with futuristic buildings where robots had developed their own culture and beliefs. I loved the tiny details like the propaganda anime that Alphie watched. It was rich and detailed.

The Creator tackles some familiar themes. The setup seemed like The Terminator and The Matrix where humanity goes to war with the machines and The Creator tackled the familiar themes about A.I., self-awareness, and what it means to be alive. Edwards was able to put his own spin on the idea since the Machines were on the losing side. A.I. wasn’t malicious like it was in The Terminator or The Matrix. It simply wanted to exist like in A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Chappie, and Humans and had no ill intentions towards humanity.

They were a guerrilla force fighting against the military might of the United States that included massive tanks and most importantly a military base flying high up in the air. The country of New Asia seemed like it was going to be The Creator’s unsubtle substitute for China, but it was really it was used as a location for a futuristic version of the Vietnam War.

The American army acted like they did during the Vietnam War. They bulldozed villages, terrorised villagers, and committed war crimes. The sci-fi weaponry in these rustic villages and the American field commander being a woman made The Creator have some similarities to the Avatar movies.

The Creator was made on a budget of $80 million and it looked fantastic. It really stands out because the recent offerings from Marvel and DC had massive budgets and subpar effects. Edwards shot his film on location and with his special effects background, so knew how to shoot CGI scenes which meant he wouldn’t be constantly changing scenes during post-production like what’s going on in modern superhero movies.

The Creator was a sci-fi film that shows there’s plenty of potential for films not based on an established property. It was filled with ideas and ambition, which film fans will appreciate.