The Creator (2023) Review

The timely arrival of The Creator and its central theme revolving around the evolution of AI (artificial intelligence) eerily reflects the current real-world issue that we are facing worldwide. Tens of thousands of members from WGA (writers) and SAG-AFTRA (actors) unions have been on strike due to several issues, one of which has to do with the controversial use of AI for scriptwriting and digital replicas of actors’ likenesses. The emergence of ChatGPT and other AI tools is also seen as a threat to some of the other sectors that may affect the likes of tech and media jobs.

Gareth Edwards, directing for the first time — and his fourth, overall — since Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in 2016, envisions a story that he co-wrote alongside Chris Weitz about how humans have embraced AI in the future. The future in question takes place in 2070 as we first see AI has come a long way in revolutionising various industries. AI has also been an integral part of law enforcement agencies by deploying sentient robots.

But it doesn’t take long before everything falls apart. A major catastrophic event that ended up wiping out the city of Los Angeles prompted the U.S. government to abolish the widespread use of AI. Whereas the West imposed a total ban, the East continent of New Asia continues to embrace AI as usual. Humans and robots including humanoids with facial skins (ironically, the latter is generated using a person’s likeness) co-exist together and live a normal life.

We are then introduced to Joshua (John David Washington), a U.S. special forces agent who’s been working undercover to find out the mysterious Creator that has been responsible for the AI evolution. But a tragedy has since scarred Joshua for life until years later, the country needs him to go on a mission. He reluctantly agrees to join the elite army force led by Colonel Howell (Allison Janney). The mission? Infiltrate the secret facility located somewhere in New Asia to track down a weapon of mass destruction developed by the Creator.

The weapon, however, turns out to be a little humanoid girl (Madeleine Yuna Voyles). But instead of killing her, Joshua grows a conscience and decides to protect her instead. They soon become fugitives as Howell and her team determined to locate them at all costs.

From there, we learn that Joshua subsequently named the girl “Alphie”. Their journey is an affecting one, leaving Washington and Voyles’ characters enough room to form an emotional bond reminiscent of a father figure and a daughter. Washington’s blank-slate acting style may have been a turn-off in some scenes but overall, he does a good job playing a tough character with a heart of gold. Newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles is a real find, displaying a better-than-expected performance beyond her cute-as-a-button appearance.

Amidst the hot-button issue of AI, the subject matter itself is nothing new in the Hollywood movie landscape. Blade Runner is an obvious inspiration here, notably on the age-old debates of being human and xenophobia. Shades of war propaganda on hostility and prejudice, particularly Vietnam War films can also be seen in the movie’s U.S. army invasion of New Asia. Despite the familiarities inspired by different movies of yesteryear, the story remains engaging, even though the pacing tends to slack off every now and then.

The movie also includes recurring flashbacks of Joshua and his long-lost beloved wife, Maya (Gemma Chan, in a sympathetic supporting turn). Ken Watanabe brings gravitas to his humanoid freedom fighter character as Harun while it’s nice to see Allison Janney in a fiercely authoritarian role as Colonel Howell.

Technical credits are mostly superb except for the action set pieces. Don’t get me wrong, some of the action sequences evoke the look and feel of a gritty war film. But there’s a nagging feeling about Edwards’ penchant for frenetic camerawork lacking a certain visual flair to make them a standout.

Otherwise, The Creator looks stunning and more so with Edwards and cinematographers Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer shot the movie with Sony FX3 regardless of daylight or nighttime moments. It’s hard not to immerse in the believable futuristic world created by Edwards that is seamlessly integrated with one of the best uses of special effects I’ve ever seen this year. Interestingly, I was surprised to find this movie is made on a lower-than-expected US$80 million budget, proving that sometimes you don’t need hundreds of millions to produce an effects-heavy genre film like The Creator.

Radiohead’s “Everything in its Right Place” needle drop is one of the highlights here in the movie, with Thom Yorke’s hypnotic vocals playing in the background complementing well with the scene. It may have been a brief moment but it sure leaves a lasting impression. Hans Zimmer’s soaring score, in the meantime, deserves equal praise as well.