'The Creator' Can't Conjure Up A Miracle
Mixing the heart of Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence with the action of Neill Blomkamp's District 9, Gareth Edwards brings us The Creator, a film that has a lot going for it but falls short. The Creator tries to reach for greatness with its high concept and ambition but can't quite get there as Edwards packs a lot of deep philosophical content in a film that gets lost in all its explosions.
Like 2009's District 9, the film starts on a promising note. The picture introduces its high concept to the audience through a collection of newsreels. In District 9, the film interviews subjects who disclose information about their world in which aliens have become stranded across the planet, mostly migrating to Africa, waiting for their mothership to pick them up. It starts on a smart note but dissolves into constant action, completely ditching its fake documentary style until the very end. In The Creator, the film introduces its concept through newsreels that appear from the 1960s, although the film takes place in the future. Robots have become an important part of human life. They serve our tasks, operating as work slaves for humans. Eventually, the robots or "simulants" get sick of being enslaved, so they pull a Skynet by nuking Los Angeles.
Following the nuclear catastrophe, the U.S. government condemned artificial intelligence production, going to war against the machines they built. Both District 9 and The Creator use found footage to introduce their premise to the audience, and both have too much action for their own good.
The Creator has a very blockbuster sci-fi plotline. Joshua (John David Washington) is an ex-special forces agent whose wife is executed. When she tries to escape the mercenaries after her, a large missile drops from the sky. It impacts the small boat Maya (Gemma Chan) is trying to flee in. Somehow, Maya may still be alive despite a ridiculously large explosion that impacted her tiny rowboat. There's no way she could have survived the blast unless she dove in the water.
In a mission to find his wife, who's gone missing since the incident, John's brought back into action. His mission is to locate and capture the Creator, a developer of advanced A.I. who has made the weapon the U.S. military is after. The weapon turns out to be a little synthetic girl. Yet she's no ordinary robot girl. Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) has unique powers. She can control any electronic device with the will of her mind. When Joshua discovers Alphie, he forms a bond with her not only because she's an innocent-looking little girl. But also because she has the info regarding Maya's whereabouts.
Joshua goes from protecting the weapon to loving the weapon as if it were his kid. His affection for Alphie seems to come at random. The relationship has no buildup, and no true bonding moments are shared. Alphie asks existential questions relating to the afterlife and mortality that could be discussed instead of being a brief exchange of words between gunfights.
I get this is an action movie, but unlike The Terminator, the subject of good vs. evil is more complicated and could use some more exploring. The Terminator works as a simple tale of man vs. machine. The Terminator itself is a killing machine that feels no pain, pity, or remorse and will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead. Its sequel featured a good Terminator vs. a bad one. The absolutes between good guy and bad guy are clearly defined. No humans are evil in Terminator 1 or 2 other than mental health institutions that could care less about their patient's sanity.
Like Steven Spielberg's A.I. Artificial Intelligence, we're supposed to empathize with a droid designed as a child. In A.I., David is designed to love, wanting to become a real-life boy. In The Creator, Alphie is a child with extraordinary abilities that could destroy the world yet chooses to preserve life.
The Creator is a cautionary tale of A.I. What happens when we invent life only to neglect it? Who's the real enemy? Us or them? We take A.I. for advantage. Whether we use it to help write our papers, fill in our resumes, manage our banking, or control our weapons. Despite scientists' warnings from figures like the late Stephen Hawkings, we still push forward with a technology that could lead to our demise.
If or when our technology is advanced enough to develop emotions, we should try not to mistreat the very thing that's assisting us with our daily chores. By abusing our creation, we tick the doomsday clock a little closer to midnight. There's no stopping or slowing down the development of A.I. That's like asking to stop car development. It's just simply not going to happen. To co-exist, we should pay respect to our computers. How often have we smashed our keyboard or thrown our phone in frustration? Those actions could one day have consequences.
Despite its resonant themes, Director Gareth Edwards struggles to invest in his characters. Edwards creates compelling scenarios that are visually incredible but light on emotion. In 2014's Godzilla, the most interesting character is killed off in the first few minutes, forcing us to watch a movie with a collection of characters who are blandder than dry toasted bread. In Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, every character is expendable. Just because they're on a suicide mission doesn't mean they must be boring to watch.
When thinking about Rogue One, the things that come to mind are the space battles, Peter Cushing's Grand Moff Tarkin brought back to life through CGI, and Darth Vader's hallway massacre. All moments that are nostalgic but don't build character. It's simply eye candy for those who want to get stuffed on member berries. When Jan Erso and Cassian Andor hug each other on their final sunset, and Michael Giacchino's score swells up as the explosion behind them grows, I don't feel much of anything when I should. The Creator has similar thematic moments to Rogue One that are supposed to be incredibly emotional but come across as flat.
Although this review may sound negative, I still enjoyed the picture. Gareth Edwards has an incredible style. He likes to take science fiction elements and make them down-to-earth and gritty. Godzilla is a film about survival, Rouge One is a war movie about sacrifice, and The Creator is another war movie, this time about love. It vilifies the U.S. army, who will go to any extent to get what they want, and humanizes the robots man is fighting against.
It's a multilayered film about power, control, connection, and prejudice. With so many big themes, the movie barely allows itself time to breathe or focus on what it's trying to convey. Hearing more dialogue between Joshua and Alphie about mortality, playing God, and the meaning of life would have been wonderful. Instead, we get a hale of constant combat. It's as if the director knows he doesn't want to bore the audience with complicated philosophical discussions. So he inserts as much action as possible to keep the viewer's attention.
I'm not asking for My Dinner With Andre levels of philosophy, but I would appreciate something more intriguing than shooting bad guys and running away from a ticking time bomb. There's a lot of promise in The Creator that achieves goodness but not greatness. It's an enjoyable sci-fi action film with complicated contemporary themes that's mildly interesting yet visually thrilling.
