In a shocking turn of events, Hollywood has made one of its boldest decisions in recent memory: releasing an action-blockbuster that’s original IP…in 2023! Refreshingly, we have a movie with no franchise attachments or commitments to previous storytelling, something Hollywood desperately needs following Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame (2019) and the failed Star Wars sequel trilogy.
Before I get into my actual thoughts on Gareth Edwards’s The Creator, I do want to commend New Regency for rolling the dice on this type of project. The Creator is ambitious and requires a production process that makes it difficult for a studio to not rely on previously successful IP.
A large factor of this hesitancy is the box-office numbers required to justify many action-adventure movies’ immense budgets. Aside from the astronomical rise in costs for films over the past couple of decades, production studios must also compete with streaming services and the immense powers the Internet provides to piracy. And as much as I despise the continuous cycle of sequels and spinoffs since the rise of the MCU from an artistic standpoint, I can’t act as if these hurdles are not legitimate and the concerns of studio executives justified.
Fortunately, The Creator makes the most out of its modest $80 million budget. The shots are massive reminding me of the style Denis Villeneuve employs; the effects are dazzling with a uniquely futuristic style; and the film impressively shoots in real locations around the world not relying on the tempting blue screen.
All of this is enough to inspire optimism towards the future of film. There’s been far enough retelling of past stories and it’s past time we get a new generation of stories. And what is Edwards’s story in The Creator? A world post-2050 that is in the depths of war against incredibly advanced artificial intelligence. Like its production techniques, the narrative is just as ambitious with the potential to really dive deep into the questions of what constitutes the basis of reality and the difference between humans and technology. However, with an immense philosophical opportunity ahead, Edwards’s story ultimately feels…well a bit artificial.
John David Washington seriously needs a really good film to star in. I really enjoyed him in Christopher Nolan’s Tenet (2019) despite thinking it was by far Nolan’s weakest film, and I again very much enjoyed his performance here. Washington gives a charismatic and emotional performance as our lead character set out to destroy AI’s newest, most advanced weapon - until he realizes it’s a child. It’s a premise that I thought was a bit derivative of Disney+’s The Mandalorian but with enough potential to really dive into interesting areas.
The Creator is far from a bad watch. There’s good chemistry between Washington and the AI child Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) as well as solid performances from antagonists and supporting cast, specifically Allison Janney and Ken Watanabe. There’s also plenty of great eye candy with the effects and big action sequences I mentioned earlier. There just doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of substance.
The Creator deals with big questions but takes away little answers. We don’t spend nearly enough time with our characters at the start necessary to develop a true emotional attachment to them and not nearly enough meat to justify its 133-minute runtime. We’re left with half-baked ideas underneath enough razzle-dazzle to get your attention span from beginning to end.
It’s disappointing that the movie that could finally inspire actual inspiration from film studios is artistically empty. The film has great moments and when it’s going well, it’s going really well. Sadly, Edwards just can’t sustain this for the monster runtime. Even the technically spectacular shots don’t exactly cut it in the cinematography department from an artistic perspective. It’s a bit of a common theme throughout The Creator: a lot to show but not a lot to say. It certainly doesn’t help that its plot twists can be sniffed out a mile away.
I hope The Creator will change things, but I don’t think it’s a fantastic movie by itself. It’s far from boring but also far from great. However, with the WGA finally back to work there are plenty of lessons the film industry can learn from this film and it’s enough to make me hopeful.
Final Thought:
6.7