The Creator
In 2065, the West ramps up its military capability in order to wipe out the threat posed by artificial intelligence.
Grave new world
The Creator could not have arrived at a more opportune time. With the column inches that AI is occupying at the moment, a dystopian epic exploring the complexities of intelligence in all its myriad forms is ripe for discussion. The surprise of Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi behemoth is how it tackles both the artificial and its intelligence in a world that has become increasingly complex. As human beings become more and more divorced from nature, so machines have become more and more human. To underscore the point – in real life – a robotics company set up a (fake) press reception in 2016 with a famous actress and convinced some of the attending journalists that they were quizzing the star and not an electronic and silicone replica. The actress was Gemma Chan, and perhaps it’s no coincidence that she is the female lead in a film that questions what it is to be human – and what it also means to have a not dissimilar neural diversity.
The Creator is set in 2065 when our planet has become politically divided between the West and New Asia, a scenario that is already becoming chillingly possible. But whereas here the West stands for an old school Homo Sapiens sensibility, enforced by the heavy-handedness of the US military, New Asia has adopted a more sophisticated view of the nuances of critical thinking, where humans, simulants and robots exist side-by-side in harmony. These two extremes are represented by Joshua Taylor (John David Washington), an undercover operative with a prosthetic arm and leg, and his wife Maya (Gemma Chan), who are forced to take sides when their hideout in New Asia is exposed. Following an incursion by American troops, Joshua is rescued, while Maya chooses to escape with her ‘own kind’, to her inevitable fate…
Gareth Edwards has been a force to reckon with ever since he knocked up his first film, Monsters (2010), largely on his laptop, utilising two actors and a crew of five. He eventually brought Monsters in for $500,000 and secured a US and UK release. His next budget was bigger ($160m) for Godzilla (2014), which received positive reviews, and then there was Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), which made over a billion dollars. By those standards, The Creator is quite modest, coming in at $80m, but it should outlast the first three, at least among sci-fi buffs, for years to come. Edwards has cited Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner as inspirations, but there are elements, too, of Avatar and District 9, but within a crowded field it is really quite original.
After a confusing opening, The Creator reveals a grungy landscape of entangled machinery and nature, and as the plot become clearer, so does the massive intent of the film. There is an astonishing bank of ideas here, with the visuals and technological detail verging on the phenomenal. It may be more of an intellectual journey than an emotional one, but its scope and at times documentary-like realism build to an immersive and almost elegiac experience. If you can manage to see it on Imax, you really should.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Amar Chadha-Patel, Ralph Ineson, Veronica Ngo, Marc Menchaca, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Allison Janney, Michael Esper, Robbie Tann.
Dir Gareth Edwards, Pro Gareth Edwards, Kiri Hart, Jim Spencer and Arnon Milchan, Screenplay Gareth Edwards and Chris Weitz, Ph Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer, Pro Des James Clyne, Ed Hank Corwin, Joe Walker and Scott Morris, Music Hans Zimmer, Costumes Jeremy Hanna, Sound Erik Aadahl, Malte Bieler and Ethan Van der Ryn, Dialect coach Francie Brown.
Regency Enterprises/eOne/New Regency/Bad Dreams-Walt Disney Studios.
133 mins. USA. 2023. UK Rel: 28 September 2023. US Rel: 29 September 2023. Cert. 12A.
