Artificial Intelligence (or AI) has been a topic of discussion for as long as I can remember, but in recent years it really has come to the forefront. Within science fiction or adventure, film has looked at a number of different ways it can be used, but when it gets to be too much, we see films like The Terminator for the consequences of it. With The Creator, I found myself asking if these films should continue to expand and grow or just throw the whole thing in a scrap pile.
Gareth Edwards (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) directs John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney and Ken Watanabe in this futuristic tale where AI robots have become a mainstay in society as helpers to humans. After a nuclear explosion that is believed to have been triggered by these AI beings, the humans start a war to get rid of all of them resulting in the devastation of the entire planet outside of “New Asia”. Joshua (Washington) is on a mission to find the robots’ secret weapon which could win the war for the non-human side, but while on that mission, he meets up with a robot named Alphie (Voyles), who be more of what she seems to be as they both become the hunted.
The acting is very good here with Washington leading the way alongside an incredible debut performance by Voyles. They were both so good that I can easily see nominations at the end of the year for both of them. Add to that pros like Janney and Watanabe, and this works out to be just a solid cast. The cinematography really sold me as well, with locations of Thailand alongside the CGI visuals fully on-point.
On the flip side, this is another one of those films that just sits around two long at two hours and fifteen minutes where it easily could have landed inside the two-hour mark. The script itself does have some great emotional moments, but the plot seemed to reminiscent of others like Avatar, Titanic, and Dances with Wolves in the sense of two people from two different walks of life working together against the odds to make it work, and that really got to the point where I could see what was coming more than I think I should have. The Creator is a film that I liked, but I would only recommend watching it at home if you have a quality home theater system.