The Creator Movie Review

The Creator (2023)

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Written by: Gareth Edwards and Chris Weitz (screenplay by), Gareth Edwards (story by)
Directed by: Gareth Edwards
Starring: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson
Rated: PG-13
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Plot
Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with artificial intelligence, a former soldier finds the secret weapon, a robot in the form of a young child.

Verdict
As interesting as this world is, the plot isn't. This movie is spectacle, and there's just nothing to support it. The story is so bland that it didn't hold my interest. This could have built on scenes between soldier and child, but it relies on exposition instead. Relationships don't feel natural. They occur just to move the plot. If you start to question this world and the plot at all, the faults just keep growing. The movie focused on CGI instead of building this world and the story.
Skip it.

Review
My favorite part of this movie is the opening that recaps an alternate history and the development and expansion of AI from clumsy robots to robots that compete in sports and serve numerous jobs in society. These lifelike AI are called simulants. Then the AI attacked. It's an interesting story that sets up this movie. AI was integrated into all aspects of culture. Despite the attack, technology is still a big part of this world.

This starts in 2065 with undercover agent Taylor (John David Washington) in New Asia to find the inventor of the revolutionary AI. Taylor's mission didn't go well and he ends up state side five years later cleaning up trash from the nuclear blast from the AI attack. How has the waste not been cleaned up already? I wish we saw more of his life during that period. That could have shown us a world where technology was so prevalent and then scaled back to remove AI as a precaution. It also could have shown us the fear and paranoia about technology. The US is waging a war against AI and New Asia who continue to embrace AI. If the AI is waging a war, it seems like they're doing a bad job. One attack and no follow up? This movie doesn't do a great job building the world. Once you start asking questions, it falls apart. If America is against AI, shouldn't this be a world that forgoes technology for manual control and machines?

John David Washington plays Taylor

The military want Taylor to go back to New Asia. They think they've found the creator of AI and his lab, Nirmata. Taylor and his detail raid a village, but this never shows us what it's like to live with or without AI. This is a big budget movie with lots of sets and big explosions, but it's just spectacle.

Taylor finds a child simulant, unique as simulants are always adults. In this movie simulants all have a hole in their neck to show their mechanical nature. It looks cool, but if AI wanted to win the war, wouldn't they go undercover? Taylor and this kid, Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), band together because the movie demands it. This looks like a situation where they will slowly bond during the movie, helping each other. Instead the movie forces a few conversations that are supposed to be deep, but are really just a narrative shortcut.

This is such a cool cyber punk type world, but the story is bland. It's unfortunate nothing happens in it. America is fighting the AI by using robots, robots that seems to have intelligence. That seems counter to the whole war, but the movie never explores that.

Ken Watanabe plays Harun

We get a twist with Taylor and Alphie, but it's too pointed. This movie could have built their friendship throughout the movie with small interactions, building to something meaningful at the end. Instead we get exposition. I don't find many of these characters believable. Taylor is friendly with a simulant soldier Harun (Ken Watanabe), but that seems forced just so we can follow a robot character.

The relationships in this movie only happen to move the plot along. Taylor starts fighting for America, against AI. This could have developed his relationship with Alphie and being anti-AI by having him slowly change his mind as he sees how AI help a village he's hiding out in. This could also play up the hypocrisy of America using AI to fight a war against AI. He could realize AI aren't bad, and America's war may be more than it appears. This movie needs to focus smaller and think about how this world would actually work. What happened to all the robots in the US after the war started? The only reason human looking robots have a hole in their neck is to look cool. Why did the AI drop a nuclear bomb and not follow up with additional attacks? In the movie America attacks and New Asia and AI supporting countries defend. If AI was as prevalent as the movie claims, I think America would be scrambling, not to win, but just survive. The depictions of AI run amok in The Terminator and The Matrix seem more believable. Fighting an opponent smarter than you isn't easy. This movie hasn't thought about how the world actually works. This takes a typical story, dresses it up with impressive CGI and doesn't dial in the plot.