The Creator

“Amidst a future war between humans and AI, an ex-special forces agent (John David Washington) grieving the disappearance of his wife (Gemma Chan) is recruited to kill an AI architect who has developed a mysterious weapon that could end humankind, in this epic sci-fi action thriller.”

Director Gareth Edwards is no stranger to the Sci-Fi genre, as his addition to the Star Wars franchise, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is easily one of the best films after Disney took over the IP. Although The Creator doesn’t have the rich history and backstory that is already solidified in cinema history, it’s beyond excellent in regards to the world building of the bleak future of humanity in its own right.

In a concise and informative opening, we learn that in this alternate version of history, the world embraced robotics and A.I. early on during the infancy of technological development, giving rise to advanced creations that were both intelligent and worked side by side with humans for decades all over the world. When an A.I. set off a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, the United States adopted an Anti-A.I. policy in which these machines were hunted down and destroyed, outlawed from being operated or developed in the country. The rest of the world resisted this policy, still working hand-in-hand with A.I. machines, developed to look more and more human with their own thoughts and feelings.

John David Washington plays Joshua, an undercover agent sent to infiltrate a particular sect of A.I. resistance fighters, comprised of both machines and humans. His goal is to eliminate an advanced A.I. known as Nirmata, or The Creator, who is suspected of developing a weapon designed to destroy an Orbital Defense ship that launches deadly attacks against A.I. all over the planet. During his undercover operation, Joshua falls in love with the target he is supposed to seduce, Maya (Gemma Chan). They marry, with her becoming pregnant, but tragedy strikes as Joshua’s higher ups authorize an unannounced strike on the group, exposing him as an undercover agent, and leading to the death of his wife.

Years later, he is a broken man still blaming the government for the loss of his wife. He’s approached by Colonel Howell (Allison Janney) who shows him evidence his wife is still alive, and they need his help to infiltrate a foreign facility in which he knows the layout, and in exchange for helping them finally destroy Nirmata, he will be allowed to bring his wife home without charges. Sufficed to say, the operation does not go as planned, and faced with the opportunity to destroy this advanced weapon, which turns out to be a young child A.I. named Alphie (Madelein Yuna Voyles), Joshua decides to use her to find his wife, which is no where to be found in the facility. Now on the run from both American and foreign governments, Joshua and Alphie make their way across unknown lands in order to find any trace of the resistance group he was once a part of.

If The Creator does anything with superb excellence, it’s the world building. As it’s such an important aspect of any Sci-Fi story, I was quite impressed with how quickly and efficiently the story was set up and how easy it was to become immersed in a world filled with A.I. working alongside humans, with their own thoughts and emotions. This includes all the futuristic designs of weapons, vehicles, and imaginative new technologies.

The theme of creation and existence is at the forefront of the story in which an entire nation and superpower deems these beings as ‘not real’ and should be shown no mercy in their termination, despite whether or not they are a threat to anyone or want to live peacefully alongside their human friends and counterparts. The story seems fitting and prophetic at how things would turn out if this were to happen in our own history in terms of the conflicting policies by different nations of the world, some with a cold and unempathetic view, and others pushing boundaries of technology and understanding.

The Creator does a lot of things really well from a technical standpoint, however, one thing that didn’t quite connect with me was the human side of the story. I didn’t feel connected to the relationship between Joshua and Alphie. It’s obvious that the story was headed for a more understanding and trustful relationship between the two, but I feel it comes too late in the film and leaves out a lot of gradual growth that could have helped nurture our own view of their connection. Even though the world building is top-notch, dropping the ball on the story side of things is so unfortunate, because I felt this could have been something really great if they got that connection just right between the two main characters, but for me, it just wasn’t there. This can also be further applied to a lot of the A.I. machines. There are brief mentions of this, for example, when a damaged robot is reactivated from ground zero in Los Angeles, it desperately wants to know if people it cares about are okay, scared and confused before it’s coldly disconnected. Moments like this could have been explored so much more to help develop that main theme. Despite this, there are genuinely warm moments between Joshua and Alphie, especially Alphie, who seems more human in her compassion and empathy than flesh and blood people. It’s these moments that drive the story, and although I think it could have been a bit cleaner it its execution, the story still invokes some powerful emotion at times, well worth the time to check out and interpret in your own way.

We were given a digital copy to review this film, which is currently available to own digitally. The physical release is on December 12^th, which includes DVD, Blu-ray and 4k Ultra HD. As this is a Disney release under the 20th Century Studios umbrella, the inclusion of the physical release is great news for fans of the film, because it will no doubt look gorgeous on 4k, and is sure to have some interesting and worthwhile extras.