Susan Granger’s review of “The Creator” (20th Century Studios)
British filmmaker Gareth Edwards’ ambitious “The Creator” abounds with extraordinary visuals, utilizing the very best technology available today – which is why it’s a shame that he neglects to supply an intriguing plot to support his timely spectacle.
It’s all about Hollywood’s current obsession with artificial intelligence, exploring AI’s utopian and dystopian possibilities.
Set in the 2060s, when humans and robots are able to reproduce, it begins as Joshua (John David Washington, Denzel’s son), an undercover special forces agent, sees his very pregnant ‘simulant’ wife Maya (Gemma Chan) killed just as they’re being extracted from an explosive attack.
Years later, still-grieving Joshua is summarily recruited for a new mission. In the interim, AI seems to have gone rogue, igniting a nuclear attack on Los Angeles. For self-preservation, humans now rely on an immense airship – the USS Nomad – to seek out and eliminate all AI facilities around the world.
But when a brilliant scientist named ‘Nimrata’ in New Asia perfects an AI superweapon that could destroy Nomad, Joshua is dispatched, having been told that Maya may, perhaps, still be alive.
Operating under orders from ruthless Colonel Howell (Allison Janney), Joshua discovers the so-called superweapon is actually a synthetic child whom he calls Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles). Somehow, she possesses a telekinetic power to control electronics.
While there’s supposed to be a surrogate father-daughter dynamic, it’s woefully under- developed – which works to the detriment of audience involvement. Instead, there’s an overload of gritty man vs. machine fighting that sends views into a superficial stupor – as style overwhelms substance.
Co-writing with Chris Weitz, director Gareth Edwards gingerly lifts ideas and iconography from “Blade Runner,” “A.I.,” “Baraka,” “Akira,” “Apocalypse Now” and his own “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” Yet filming in Thailand, Cambodia, Nepal and other exotic locations with cinematographers Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer, Edwards manages to make his $80 million budget look like twice that.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Creator” is a stunning sci-fi 6, playing in theaters.
