“The Creator” begins with an old-timey newsreel. That might feel a little incongruous for a science fiction epic, but the melding of retro and futuristic actually serves Gareth Edwards’s film well. We’re treated to a carefree montage that shows us just how seamlessly artificial intelligence has integrated with humanity in this world we’re about to enter. Here, robots live among people. They are businessmen, public servants, boxers – even Olympians.
They are also law enforcement, and it’s with this particular revelation that the music underscoring this montage becomes a little less jaunty, and terrified yells and high-pitched screams begin to infiltrate this utopian society. It’s also here that we learn the culmination of this fusion of robot and human has apparently culminated with artificial intelligence detonating a bomb in Los Angeles, killing millions of people and throwing the world into war.
This setup is well and succinctly delivered, but it’s nothing we haven’t seen before. “The Creator” deals in familiar science fiction tropes, most reminiscent of the 2004 television series “Battlestar Galactica” – to my mind, one of the best explorations of what it is that makes us human, whether we’re run by programming or not. But while “Battlestar Galactica” found complexity and nuance in that exploration, “The Creator” draws a stark line in the sand. There is a clear evil at play here – and it’s not artificial intelligence.
Despite everything you’ve just read about that bombing, “The Creator” comes down staunchly on the side of the robots in this battle. But for as much as the script, co-written by Edwards and Chris Weitz, hinges on a positive view of new technologies, in look “The Creator” feels more like an old-school epic and looks much better than any other blockbuster movie you’re likely to see today (and for way less money, too). Filmed on location in Thailand, “The Creator” feels tactile, and that sense of physical place can feel exhilarating at times. But for as good as “The Creator” looks, as the story moved further along I couldn’t help but bristle at almost every other aspect. From its screenplay and eerily optimistic way of looking at artificial intelligence, to its star power (or lack thereof), “The Creator” can’t skate by on looks alone.
The film really begins years after the Los Angeles bombing, when humans are locked in a bloody war with artificial intelligence. We meet Joshua (John David Washington), an ex-special forces agent who lost his wife Maya (Gemma Chan) and unborn child when an undercover mission went awry. Following this loss, the military recruits him to track down the Creator – the unknown maker of this advanced artificial intelligence – who has developed a weapon that allegedly holds the power to not just end the war, but end humankind as well. Joshua takes the job, but things become complicated when he learns this terrifying new weapon has been designed with the likeness of a child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).
Without even delving into the artificial intelligence of it all, the screenplay – a jumble of flashbacks that leave us with no place to ground ourselves – shakes up the timeline of events and removes all emotional payoff and suspense. Even without that narrative confusion, tonally “The Creator” waffles back and forth between harrowing treatments of death and slapstick routines played for laughs. Towards the beginning of the film, we are forced to watch an American soldier threaten to kill the puppy of a young girl as she screams in terror. Later, another character opens a delivery box and finds a bomb, leaving us with a, “Oh, fu–” before they’re unceremoniously blown to bits.
But even screenplay issues can be forgiven if there’s a capable movie star at the center of the film. And unlike so much modern blockbuster filmmaking, “The Creator” is built around the power of its star. It feels out of time in that sense, more like a 1990s action film starring Will Smith, or Harrison Ford, or Keanu Reeves. Operating at their peak, those stars have the ability to elevate even mediocre films to something innately watchable simply by virtue of their presence. Unfortunately for “The Creator,” Washington does not have that same presence.
To his credit, he’s not served by the script, and he can be charming enough when he’s flirting, or posturing, or leaning into the film’s broader comic moments. But Washington does not bring the gravitas necessary to move “The Creator” past its failings. Joshua carries almost all of the film’s emotional weight, whether he’s pleading for Maya to go with him, or screaming as a little girl is wrenched away from his arms. Washington’s approach to this character – a hardened military man burdened by loss – feels blank rather than closed off. This is most noticeable when he’s forced to act against someone like Allison Janney, who feels a little miscast as a military leader, but is able to portray her character as someone whose desensitized mask hides a greater hurt.
But all of this still felt secondary to how comfortable – even hopeful – the movie feels at the thought of humanity being replaced by artificial intelligence. Don’t get me wrong – there are interesting ideas to explore in that space, and there are plenty of films and television shows that have done it well. But “The Creator” is so bogged down by tropes and desperate to give us an easy villain that it misses its opportunity to go that route. I’m willing to admit timing might have something to do with how I feel about this particular narrative. As of the publication of this piece, SAG-AFTRA is still on strike, and artificial intelligence is an issue that has come up over and over in that fight for a fair contract. One of the technologies featured in the movie allows humans to donate their likeness to science to then be used by robots who wish to look a little more human. This feels eerily similar to the SAG-AFTRA concern that studios would require background actors to be digitally scanned so their likeness could be used later on.
Timing is everything, and maybe this is my paranoia talking. But the big Hollywood movie event of the year feeling optimistic over what the future holds for artificial intelligence feels a little too on the nose.