The Creator is the sixth and final feature from Austrian born filmmaker Gareth Edwards. It is also his first independently funded film in his long and illustrious career. Those sentences were both lies, baseless and meaningless lies so I could sound like a real film reviewer, but much like my stats, my credentials are fake too.
Either way, here are my thoughts on the latest Sci-Fi epic from Gareth Edwards, who I had the pleasure of listening to explain elements of the film and got a peak behind the AI operated curtain.
The Creator showcases scale and world shaking issues while focusing on a small and intimate story about love, in a world that is struck by a continuous war between man and machine. Joshua is a US agent working on the halting of AI. The “western” world has banned the use of AI as recreational and free roaming beings. Instead, fighting against their existence, only using them as brief instruments of war.
We enter into that war-stricken world, about 40 years in the future, where AI have suspiciously turned against us and have been exiled from everywhere except “New Asia” where they seem to be accepted into society as equals. Shockingly, America has a problem with this, learning about new developments that the enemy has made, a weapon that could end humanity in some vague and unexplained way. Joshua is undercover with his wife in New Asia, where she is expecting to have their baby. A military event, sparked by the US army's new superweapon The Nomad, an impossibly large winged space station that looms over the film for its runtime. This event splits Joshua and his wife up as he thinks she was killed during the mission. He retreats back to America to regroup and continue his work with the government.
Five years later, he returns to New Asia to apprehend this weapon and to kill its creator. When he finds out that the weapon is actually in the form of a kid, who he called Alfie. He builds a bond with her, questioning his views on AI and their treatment by the rest of the world. Sci-Fi!
There is an expectation for films about AI to take on the moral question of whether or not AI is conscious and deserving of rights, this question lingers in the film, not really being answered or deeply delved into. I don’t think a film about AI and its implementation in our society needs that evaluation to be considered good. There are so many films that tell unique stories with backdrops of settings, without expectation of exploration. Not every war film has to examine the pros and cons of war, or every horror film has to condemn murder and haunting.
My issue with this film is its length, I feel like there is so much missing in tying down a deep emotional connection. With an extra forty minutes to an hour, I think I could happily say this would be one of my favourite films of the year. The natural bond that Joshua and Alfie share is so endearing (majorly helped by a crazy good performance by Madeleine Yuna Voyles, who plays Alfie in the film). With some extra time spent with these characters, I think it would have allowed the climax to hold so much more tension and emotional stakes. While I felt some of these feelings, and predictably cried at points, it could have hit me so much harder. I also feel that the world created was so vast and interesting, that this time could have been utilised so well. The story you do get builds a great foundation, and with interesting set pieces, great performances and imaginative VFX, its a good place to be in that I can only fault it on wanting more of what we got.
The look of the film is so polished, it feels like someone who knows exactly what they’re doing made every single frame of the film, exactly how it should have been made. That is the case actually, with Dune and The Batman’s Greig Fraser as the DoP, it would be weird to expect anything else. I’m not sure if I was glazed over by the explosions to not notice it but I was fully immersed in this world, never being taken out by some low quality comping.
The camera work obviously bends to the VFX in the film, as it is mostly enhanced the world it was put in. The film is shot on location in stunning environments, allowing for the camera to pickup the natural beauty, and then handing over to VFX for some sprucing up.
The sound was also impressive on the film, not relying on just blowing out the speakers for every loud noise, it felt meticulous and specific in its placement. The film was clearly mixed to be on the biggest and best screen with the biggest and best speakers possible.
The music was done by local music boy, Hans Zimmer, who employs elements of traditional Asian inspired sounds with Sci-Fi synths, creating a unique approach the soundtrack of the film. The music was also thoughtfully mixed as it drifted around the Dolby Atmos speakers, really creating that soundscape that they brag about in the pre film demo.
In essence, this film is probably the most polished and technically flawless Sci-Fi film I’ve seen in quite some time, considering this is also an original idea, not based on any preexisting property, the awe doth continue. It feels pretty once off as a film, something that has been a brain baby in its idea gestation period for an apt amount of time. Even so I’m hoping there are some other eagerly awaiting and fertile ideas, ready to be birthed set in this world. Much like that gross analogy, I’m eagerly awaiting the director’s cut with slow moments of relationship building.
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