The Creator: A Concept Movie That Overwhelms Its Characters — by Bill Lee
Director: Gareth Edwards
Writers: Gareth Edwards and Chris Weitz
Starring: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, and Gemma Chan
Rated PG13
2h 13m
I enjoy a good science fiction movie and Hollywood likes to produce them too. Gareth Edwards, best known for directing Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (in my opinion, the best of all the new Star Wars movies), takes aim at the future of artificial intelligence, aka AI, in the year 2065. Presently, our world is in the beginning stages of artificial intelligence with its use in web search technology, self-driving cars, Siri and Alexa, and most recently (and controversially) ChatGPT, a program that can write stories and essays, write tests (for teachers), simulate chat rooms, play tic-tac-toe, among many other things. Mostly, the technology is way beyond me, but the concept of what it can do and how it can affect the future of humanity is not.
What will AI be like in 40 years? Gareth Edwards tackles this question in his futuristic sci-fi thriller The Creator. Edwards has created a world where humans, robots, and a hybrid form of human-robots are attempting to inhabit the earth without destroying each other. As you can imagine, it is not going so well, and there is a war between the two factions, all starting over a nuclear bomb that detonated in Los Angeles in 2055 killing millions of humans.
The world is divided in two: the West, the Americans who want AI destroyed — specifically the human-robot forms — and the East, New Asia whose society accepts humans, robots, and the human-robots living together.
The story revolves around an American soldier named Joshua played by John David Washington. Joshua has been working an undercover operation for years in New Asia, gaining the trust of its people and robots and even married one, a woman named Maya, played by Gemma Chan. Apparently, the New Asians are building a weapon name Alpha O that will neutralize the Americans’ own super weapon that has been destroying cities in New Asia. Joshua is on the cusp of finding New Asia’s super weapon when his cover is revealed and his wife is killed during a surprise attack on his village.
The first half of The Creator offered potential with its unique story line and outstanding cinematography and digital scenery. The war-torn countryside of New Asia was reminiscent of movies like Platoon while the scenes in the city reminded me of Blade Runner. The concepts of the movie explore a theme that is voiced by one of the New Asian villagers: “Those things down below. They have bigger hearts. You can’t beat AI. It’s evolution!” A big statement from an extra. In essence, this is what writers Edwards and Weitz hope to examine. Can humans and Artificial Intelligence live together in harmony? Or will the weaknesses that each group possesses destroy them?
The movie does its best to give us an answer but falls flat in the process of doing so. The Creator is a concept movie, meaning its main goal is to entertain and educate its viewers about a novel idea. Examples of other concept films are Charlie Kaufmann movies like Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and the grand daddy of them all, The Matrix written and directed by the Wachowski sisters. The ideas of these stories are just as important as the characters and the plot. All three of these movies arguably find a balance between creating dynamic characters that we care about and the mind-boggling concepts they are introducing.
The Creator also has a mind-boggling concept: that humanity and artificial intelligence (robots) will not only need to co-exist in the future, but be treated as equals. Unfortunately, The Creator’s main and supporting characters lack the depth they need to make the audience care about them. I will concede that the relationship between Joshua and Alphie, played by the young Madeleine Yuna Voyles, creates some sparks that will touch the audience, but in the end, the convoluted plot is too much for even them to overcome. In trying to help the audience, the writers break the story into titled sections like “The Child” and “The Mother” — maybe this will help with the amount of back story and flashbacks needed to limit confusion. It does not. The story goes down a rabbit hole that it seemingly can’t get out of. Are characters dead or alive? Are they robots or human? Will its highly explosive and world-changing ending bring the two sides together? We don’t get answers, and maybe it is for the best, but I can’t help but feel Gareth Edwards could have pushed his concepts better with a simpler story and a less pricey budget.
In the end, the viewer will be entertained by the futuristic battles complete with massive explosions and energetic chase scenes, but it won’t gain any wisdom about how AI might help or hinder humanity. If Edwards picked a side, it might have made the story more engaging. Instead, I guess everyone wins. I give The Creator 2 out of 5 popcorn kernels.
