The Creator

The Creator
Starring John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney
Directed by Gareth Edwards

Stop me if you've heard this before. In a dystopian world after a major war, a child of great promise is chosen to bring everyone back together again, but in order to do this he/she must be taken to a particular place while being hunted by a militant army led by a hard-nosed, no-nonsense general who won't listen to general reason. Delivering said child is a reluctant father (or sometimes mother) figure type who has gone through pain and loss in his life and those pains have hardened his heart to the point where he's essentially lost hope in humanity - until he meets this chosen one, who slowly opens his heart up to feeling love again. You might think this is the idea for "Terminator," "The Last of Us," "Midnight Special," and, heck, even "The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon" - and it's also the idea for Gareth Edwards' "The Creator," a film that's beautiful to behold, with some impressive action sequences and an endearing young performer, but ultimately nothing you haven't seen done before.

In the future AI has taken over the jobs of most Americans, and they live in peace and community with them, enjoying the lavish life while AI does the grunt work. Then an AI releases a nuclear bomb on Los Angeles, killing millions, and AI is outlawed, except in New Asia, where humanity and AI live side-by-side. Americans wage a war against AI and wants to eradicate them from the world, so a team of soldiers is sent to New Asia to find the mysterious AI architect known as Nirmata. Joshua Taylor (John David Washington) is a military sergeant sent undercover to seduce Maya Fey-Taylor (Gemma Chan) who is the daughter of Nirmata to find out where he is, and ten years later they're married and expecting a child. After a raid conducted by Colonel Howell (Allison Janney) goes terribly wrong, Joshua returns to America a broken and depressed man.

Years later he learns that there's a new weapon created by Nirmata that could bring about the end of civilization, and he's sent back to New Asia to retrieve it. However, he learns that this weapon is a young girl named Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), and he has a change of heart - he sets out to save her from the American army and take her to safety, and in the process learns how to co-exist with AI and finds that they're not as evil as the American government made them out to be.


The Good:
Gareth Edwards is known for a guerrilla style of filmmaking by incorporating very few crew members and using natural lighting to give a sense of nostalgic action epics rather than relying on a large crew surrounded by green screens and CGI, which ultimately gives off a very naturalistic feel. The film was shot on location, and used the natural beauty of Thailand as its setting, giving a beautiful landscape to behold.

The action in the film is intense and wild, with the biggest weapon of the Americans being an orbital station known as NOMAD that casts a long, intimidating blue light on the ground to find its target before dropping a huge bomb from space on a specific spot, and is easily the highlight of the action.

John David Washington does an admirable job as Joshua, especially given his script constraints. He's the typical reluctant father figure who's going through his own grief but when he comes across the child of destiny he slowly opens up to her and instead of dragging her along he develops familial feelings for her and sets out to get her to safety. In lesser hands it could've been seen as a cheap generic ploy, but Washington proves the apple doesn't fall far from the acting tree.

Madeleine Yuna Voyles also excels as Alphie, all the moreso considering this is her first major film, and it's essentially all on her shoulders. She plays the AI with a mixture of cold feelings with warm compassion, learning more to be human while also being AI, and actually making her not an annoying child character like in most of these films.

The story, although recycled again and again throughout cinematic history, is still a compelling one - which is probably why it keeps getting re-written. Although we know the ultimate outcome, it's the ride that's important, and Edwards gives a great (albeit long) journey.

Much like Neill Blomkamp's "District 9" which served as a science fiction story centering on the real life horrors of apartheid, Edwards' "The Creator" is a science fiction story centering on the real wars that America has with Asian countries, most notably Vietnam. The parallels are as subtle as a knock over the head with a mallet, as America comes into a peaceful nation looking to essentially control it, and gives off eerie echoes of our real-life past.


The Bad:
The overall execution is lacking substance, especially when it comes to Joshua and Alphie. You're supposed to feel their connection, but something got lost in the translation. Despite Washington and Voyles' performances, it essentially comes off as "been-there-done-that" and lacks any emotional depth.

The story of Nirmata is confusing and expositional, especially throwing in the talent of Gemma Chan as essentially a human MacGuffin of sorts that comes and goes as the script pleases, culminating in a shrug rather than shock.

Allison Janney's talents are wasted as the cookie cutter Colonel who is essentially the same type of Colonel as the one from "Avatar" as she does what she's ordered to do, no matter how wrong she is, and refuses to see anything different. It could've been done by any no-name actor and the results would've been the same, but considering Janney's pedigree it's a waste for the acclaimed actress.

The story meanders its way at a snail's pace at times and could've been cut by at least thirty minutes and it still make sense. Basically it goes from one major set piece to the next, as Joshua and Alphie seek refuge only to find the Americans not far behind every time. Rinse and repeat, over and over.


The Summary:
Set against a wonderful natural landscape and providing some decent action, "The Creator" is stinted by its predictable, generic plot and purposefully vague storyline that doesn't allow the actors to fully immerse themselves in their roles.


The Score: B+