The Creator Review: A Tale of Unfulfilled Promises
In which I give my unadulterated opinion. Buckle up.
đ«đ Greetingsđđ«
Hello, my dear readers â Iâm not normally so critical, but I was really hoping for something spectacular with this movie. It was not to be. So let me tell you about itâŠ
The Creator, helmed by Gareth Edwards of Rogue One and Godzilla fame, is a kludged-together sci-fi action thriller that attempts to illuminate a potential future war with AI. John David Washingtonâs Joshua, a hardened ex-soldier, is at the heart of the narrative, hunting down the elusive architect of advanced AI. Yet, despite the promise of an epic confrontation with genocidal AI, The Creator fails to deliver on many (all?) counts, becoming a poorly stitched amalgamation of borrowed concepts and criminally unaddressed plot holes.
The shining light amid the chaos is the adorably captivating performance of Madeleine Yuna Voyles, a newcomer who portrays Alfie, the AI superweapon disguised as a child. Voyles brings a level of sincerity and emotion to her role that stands in stark contrast to the utterly wooden performances of the rest of the cast. Her ability to embody the innocence and potential devastation of Alfie is a testament to her talent, and sheâs literally the only interesting thing about the movie.
Regrettably, the rest of the ensemble seems to have forgotten their acting classes. The seasoned actors around Voyles deliver performances so rigid and lifeless that they could be mistaken for the unfeeling, âjust programmingâ robots theyâre battling against. This disparity in acting prowess results in a disjointed narrative where the emotional investment is solely towards a child AI, while the human characters are left fulfilling tropeish roles with no more depth than a line drawing.
The Creator doesnât just suffer from a lack of convincing human performances; it also falls victim to an all-too-familiar plot that echoes movies like âAvatarâ and âDistrict 9,â with sets that tried, but didnât quite, match.
The most egregious offense, however, lies in the inane dialogue and stunningly glaring plot holes that litter the story. Itâs as if the script was a patchwork effort of multiple writers and film editors, each taking a turn without considering the coherence of the overall narrative. Absurd contradictions abound, such as a trillion-dollar super station that is key to winning the war with no defenses whatsoever, allowing any random flying craft to dock, even one the humans KNOW is carrying the ultimate AI weapon theyâre so concerned with.
Side note: If you see the movie and spot the massive plot hole regarding why they built the super station, youâre probably going to have to be held back from charging into the directorâs house and demanding your money back.
Moreover, the robots, despite their advanced programming and mechanical components, are inexplicably incapable of hitting a human with their weapons, while the humans are all crack shots. Itâs as if theyâre storm troopers, except they are machines. How itâs possible to have a machine with super-advanced sentience but absolutely nonexistent targeting ability is beyond me. This, coupled with the laughably inconsistent characterization of the robots frequently remarking that theyâre unable to harm humansâwhile they are literally firing their weapons at humansâmakes the overall story feel like those making it are playing some kind of joke on the audience. Maybe the joke really is that they canât hurt humans because theyâre such bad shots.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. On the whole, The Creator is a disappointing endeavor that promised much but delivered almost nothing. The trailer promoted an epic sci-fi showdown, but the movie itself felt like a disjointed, poorly conceived, written, and edited afterthought. In fact, one canât help but wondering if this script was the result of someone playing around with ChatGPT to draft it. Hereâs hoping that the talent of Madeleine Yuna Voyles isnât wasted in future endeavors and that sheâs given a chance to shine in a script that matches her abilities. As for The Creator, it serves as a reminder that a great trailer canât compensate for a lackluster script and uninspired performances. I mean seriously, the trailerâs spooky, shiver-worthy version of âDream Onâ by Aerosmith was the best thing to come from this enterprise.
Well, if youâve read this far, that must mean youâre at least nominally a sci-fi fan. That being the case, maybe I can interest you in a different story about revolution, resistance, and relentless action in the military SF genreâmy Spectras Arise series. (As always, 25% off in my PayHip store.)