The Creator
Stars: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Madeleine Yuna Voyies and Allison Janney
Director: Gareth Edwards
Scriptwriters: Gareth Edwards and Chris Weitz
Composer: Hans Zimmer
Cinematography: Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer
Regency Enterprises/20th Century Studios
Rating: PG 13
Running Length 134 Minutes
“The Creator” is not a religious film, though the title may be misleading. The script is by Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), co-written with Chris Weitz and concerns the future and AI running wild against mankind. This topic is becoming commonplace now and the film, “The Creator” is another film with that topic. Oh, special effects are fine and you can coast along on that for an hour or so, but beyond, the storyline is rather confusing, and at the end is a thud. John David Washington (“Tenet”) has the lead role of Joshua, a government agent. In Biblical times, Joshua was a leader who fought with unusual tactics, and this future is unusual.
The story begins when AI blows up a city. Now, it is war between humans and machine. Overhead in constant motion, is a huge craft called Nomad, that looks for militant AI. One territory, called New Asia, wants a stalemate. In the meantime, humans want to kill someone or something called “Nirmata” who is connected with New Asia. Enter Joshua who goes undercover in New Asia and has married Maya (Gemma Chan from “The Eternals”). She figures things out and while pregnant, goes on the run. Years later, Joshua is asked to find this “Nirmata” and destroy it as the war continues and both sides are now on equal footing. The chase begins, and Joshua finds a young child he befriends and they are on the run together. This child can operate machinery and Joshua calls her “Alphie.” From now on, the story becomes complicated and you may need a road map to follow. The plot is not holding together, so the audience concentrates on special effects instead.
As far as acting is concerned, John David Washington plays Joshua a bit stiffly and you don’t know if his character is caught in remorse or just tired. Madeleine Yuna Voyles does “Alphie” fine, but the father-adopted daughter situation seems forced. Alison Janney ("Mom") is effective as Col Howell, who dislikes AI. It is always good to see Ken Watanabe (“Tokyo Vice”) on the screen again, here as a soldier.
Reminiscent of “Blade Runner” and the war/interaction between humans and robots. The characters were interesting and the plot was understandable, but in “The Creator” there is too much plot and dazzling special effects. Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer, who did the special effects, can go just so far. Summation: “The Creator:” would be a better science fiction novel.
Copyright 2023 Marie Asner
