It’s unclear what drove humanity to create artificial intelligence. Was it a desire to make something in their own image? Why, then, ensure that we can visually differentiate them from us? To produce a workforce that could perform menial tasks day in and day out with no need for rest, sustenance, material wealth, or the impulse to create? Why, then, make them feel? Or was it to find something new to subjugate and rule over? Why, then, give them the ability to subjugate and rule over us?

The beauty of The Creator, the latest sci-fi blockbuster from director Gareth Edwards, is that it doesn’t get too hung up on things. It introduces ideas, symbols, and allegories to real-world situations and occasionally dips its toe in Judeo-Christian beliefs but never stays there long. It’s an action movie, first and foremost, a spectacle that plays so beautifully on the big screen that the standard issue storyline populated by familiar archetypes doesn’t seem off-putting or lazy. The Creator is a popcorn movie, and I mean that with high praise.

The Creator takes place in the near future, 2065, but looks more like yesterday’s tomorrow. The movie opens with archival footage of robotic advancements with a 1950s voiceover narration that blends into the manufactured newsreel images of the AI uprising, punctuated by a nuclear blast in downtown Los Angeles. The U.S. outlaws AI, but in the southeast countries of New Asia, humans live side-by-side with artificial intelligence, and the U.S. government wants them eradicated. The presence of AI anywhere is a threat to Americans everywhere. Sound familiar?

The majority of The Creator takes place in the small villages, rice paddies, and mountains of New Asia, which makes The Creator more analogous to the Vietnam War than to the messianic undertones of the movie’s protagonist: Joshua (John David Washington), the English pronunciation of the Hebrew Yeshua, commonly known as Jesus.

Joshua is an undercover U.S. agent trying to locate Nimrata, the progenitor of AI tech, who is in hiding and said to be worshipped like a god. Joshua plays his part too well, falls in love with a rebel, Maya (Gemma Chan), and continues to put her above the mission, even after his cover is blown and he is charged with finding a new weapon, one powerful enough to eradicate what’s left of humanity.

It’s not a spoiler to reveal the weapon is a child, Alfie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), a type of AI far more advanced than anything that’s come before, who also knows the location of Nimrata. But once Joshua discovers Alfie knows the location of Maya, all previous objectives are thrown out the window, and Alfie leads Joshua to the foot of his beloved.

There’s a lot to love about the future Edwards’ crafts. Tech isn’t sleek and streamlined; it’s bulky and involves a lot of physical components slamming into one another. The music of the future is a combination of ’50s Bossa Nova and ’60s rock ’n’ roll with nary a pop diddy to be found. Everything, except for the scenes set on a powerful warship rotating high in the sky, is dingy, grimy, and used. Like Star Wars, this is a world that feels lived in.

What doesn’t are the characters. Edwards and co-screenwriter Chris Weitz try to give them a little something more. But aside from one speech Col. Howell (Allison Janney) delivers, she still behaves like a rote military operative with no care for others. Ken Watanabe plays Harun, an AI rebel leader and former friend of Joshua, and even though Watanabe practically steals every scene he’s in, I’ll be damned if I could tell you anything about the character.

I’m starting to make this all seem like familiar territory. It is, but in a good way. Sure, the story ends up like you figure it might, and the third act twist isn’t much of one, but The Creator is a big movie with big ideas and a big budget and looks pretty damn good on a big screen. Believe it or not, that makes it rare in today’s cinematic landscape.

The Creator (2023)
Directed by Gareth Edwards
Screenplay by Gareth Edwards, Chris Weitz
Story by Gareth Edwards
Produced by Gareth Edwards, Kiri Hart, Arnon Milchan, Jim Spencer
Starring: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson
20th Century Studios, Rated R, Running time 133 minutes, Opens Sept. 29, 2023

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