We won’t have to wait long to watch the new movie from the guy who brought us Rogue One, Gareth Edwards. The Creator is an upcoming gloomy, action-packed, and visually impressive science fiction movie about AI that goes crazy. So, basically the plot of The Terminator with hints of District 9 and Oblivion. It’s going to be fun, no doubt about that. And considering we sorely need science fiction action movies that are not connected to any of the franchises, it feels oddly refreshing. The story, however, is another sappy melodramatic circlejerk with familiar elements. If you see the trailer, you’ve basically seen the movie.
Since I cannot help myself, spoilers from the trailer follow ahead. So, we’ve got a veteran ex-soldier tasked with first finding the mysterious Creator and then finding the ultimate weapon against the AI. Can you guess what this unbelievably powerful weapon is going to be? Will it be a complex worm virus like Stuxnet? Or will it be a thermonuclear device that’s going to destroy the AI’s server structure? They couldn’t possibly go for something lame like the power of love, right? RIGHT?! Well, I think that you already know this is going to be bad so I’ll just come out and say, it’s going to be an AI kid.
Yup, we’ve got another science fiction movie where an elderly disillusioned father figure is going to make some tough choices while partnering up with a fucking kid. And let me predict the ending, the father is going to sacrifice himself and the kid is going to “live”. As soon as I saw that the title for this movie is going to be The Creator, I was thinking something more along the lines of The Matrix or Snowpiercer. And then I saw the trailer and all the impressive special effects and futuristic concepts went out of the window. I was really excited about this movie because I love Rogue One so much. It’s simply the best Star Wars movie since the end of the prequel trilogy.
I already talked about this father/son narrative in a recent article Neil Blomkamp’s next movie They Found Us is going to suck. I’m not going to be so hard on this one as I feel the world is much more fleshed out. And that there will be a lot of cool action scenes. So, I’m hoping that The Creator is going to be like the new Star Trek movies, a shiny science fiction distraction. So, after this a bit longer rant it’s time to talk more about other aspects of the movie. The cast is led by John David Washington (Tenet) and Ken Watanabe (Inception). We’ve also got one of my favorite actors Ralph Ineson (The VVitch) with his hoarse voice.
The story is going to take place in different worlds that look futuristic and stunning. The Creator was shot in Thailand and apparently drew inspiration from this stunning place. This is why we see two androids fighting each other Muay Thai style or an android wearing a Buddhist robe. Although it was funny to see killer robots wielding futuristic versions of AK-47s with longer barrels. There’s also a scene with a guy riding a horse in a desert. So, we can expect the familiar space opera formula. You know the deal, a bit of conflict, exile, emotions, and other stuff.
What is impressive though is the design of the humanoid androids with that hole in their heads connecting their nonexistent ears. It shows the photorealistic special effects and just how much money and effort went into making this movie. It’s also quite creepy and disturbing. Especially when you see a little kid that’s got a mechanical device instead a part of his head. He looks like one of Elon’s failed Neuralink experiments. I would like to remind you that we first seen something like this exactly thirty years ago in Total Recall.
That’s the scene when Arnold Schwarzenegger takes off his robotic masks when it malfunctions. Finally, The Creator is going to be released on September 29, 2023. If you’re looking for something similar do check out Monsters of Man, a science fiction action movie with killer robots filmed in Cambodia. It features excellent special effects for a movie of that size. And if you want to watch a good science fiction movie about AI gone crazy, I highly recommend stunning indie effort The Artifice Girl. I assure you it’s good and not commercial like others in this emerging subgenre.
2024 Update! I finally checked out the movie and you car read more about it here.
