The Creator Review: Style Over Substance
Gareth Edwards’ “The Creator”
Towards the beginning of The Creator, a military crew takes a flight in a helicopter over a Southeast Asian country. After the usual soldier banter, one of the marines grabs the aux cord and begins to blast “Everything In Its Right Place” by Radiohead as they land on their target, a secret research base harboring an A.I. that could change the tides of a war. It’s a gorgeously shot moment that brings a futuristic take to the types of songs like “Fortunate Son” utilized as a sign of the times in Vietnam war movies. The scene gives you hope that The Creator will recall similar strong themes to those legendary films, like the horrors of war and colonialism. Instead, the story shockingly divulges into a routine stop-the-super-weapon plot with very little to say that hasn’t already been said better. That being said…Hollywood needs to make more movies like The Creator.
As a sci-fi film, I was hoping for something more ambitious, but it’s fantastic nonetheless that a studio like Disney was willing to take a chance on an original project not tied to any pre-existing IP. I got a chance to see about 15-minutes of The Creator back in July, and director Gareth Edwards was on stage to discuss how they filmed the movie. You could feel the excitement from the rest of the panel of directors and from the crowd hearing him humbly speak about something that I pray changes Hollywood for the better.
Edwards and co-cinematographers Greig Fraser (Dune, The Batman) & Oren Soffer gave this massive sci-fi endeavor some of the best cinematography of the year on a Sony camera that you can purchase at Best Buy. While recent large studio films have reached price tags as high as $300 Million, The Creator looks pristinely better for about a third of the price. It’s proof that better results don’t necessarily mean throwing more money at a green screen. Filmmakers need to have the ability to tell original stories, and The Creator shows how this can be done with a reasonable budget.
John David Washington in “The Creator”
Even the special effects are leagues above any blockbuster that isn’t Avatar or Dune. Edwards expertly handles scale by blending the visual effects against natural backdrops, similar to his work on Rogue One. The world building, also exquisite, crafts a near-future world where The West has raged a war on A.I. while The East has embraced it and integrated it into their lives. The pieces lay ready to give audiences the next great science fiction epic, which makes it even more disappointing how the potential gets squandered with such a generic script.
John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman, Tenet) stars as Joshua, a marine who lost his wife and his memory in an undercover mission attempting to stop the A.I. that the US considers a threat. Years later, when he’s pulled back into the conflict, he discovers that the super-weapon the A.I. has been developing is a child Simulant (a robot with human-like features). The remainder of The Creator finds Joshua torn between his newfound protection for the child, whom he names Alphie, and his old allegiances.
Madeleine Yuna Voyles as Alphie in “The Creator”
The narrative begins to follow a path of Point A to Point B set pieces that offer little to chew on except for a feast for the eyes. The film moves around so much you have little time to care for the characters Joshua and Alphie meet on their journey. There are two characters whose performances I was engrossed with right from their entrances, but I won’t reveal their names for risk of spoilers, because they were dead less than ten lines later. The Creator hyper focuses on its mission to up the ante on action and visuals, losing sight of what gives dystopian sci fi films their heart, their characters.
This is no fault to David Washington or the incredible young actress Madeleine Yuna Voyles who plays Alphie. They do their best with what they’re given and shine through in a few rare moments of connection.
If you’re a sci-fi fan, or if you haven’t been out to the movies in a while, I still recommend you get out to go see The Creator. Movies such as this need the support if they’re going to continue to be made, and I enjoyed my time entering a bold new vision of the future. Sure the script leaves you wanting more, but that emptiness is quickly replaced by robots shooting lasers, so enjoy the escapism while films like this can still be seen on the big screen.
#612 on my Favorites List as of this review
#22 out of 59 on my Best of the Year List as of this review
