Rating: ***
Review Date: 10/15/23
Director: Gareth Edwards
Music: Hans Zimmer
Cast: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan,
Allison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, cameo by Verongica Ngo
People suck.
A bleak and utterly joyless tale about the evil of men, the dangers of technology, the horrors of war, and the day that robots turned against humankind by nuking Los Angeles. Or did they? That's what the American military complex wants us to believe, which is a convenient excuse to wage war against anyone who continues to support AI development (even though the hypocritical US government uses it as well). American intel suggests that a new AI weapon is being developed that could spell the end of humankind, so an ex-soldier named Joshua Taylor (John David Washington) is called in to help locate the enemy's hidden base and possibly reunite with his long-lost wife (Gemma Chan). Not surprisingly, the operation turns into a complete disaster, but Joshua manages to survive long enough to learn some ugly truths and take the fight back to the REAL enemy.
It's a gorgeous film and writer/director Gareth Edwards does a fantastic job with futuristic world-building. Unfortunately, it's overly long and the story struggles to find its footing among the endless violence and carnage. The film's main focus seems to be a brutal commentary on American warmongering, and the fact that human nature is humanity's worst enemy. For those of us who are old enough to remember the Vietnam War, the similarities are chilling, except that instead of America fighting against the idea of Communism, it's fighting against the idea of artificial intelligence. There's not a single bad robot in the film - only bad humans. And there are no happy endings for anyone. The acting is very good and Joshua is a broken and disillusioned man driven by grief, guilt, and despair, so it's easy to empathize with him, even if he's just a pawn whose mission is doomed and hopeless. Allison Janney becomes an increasingly nasty adversary, while the delightful Veronica Ngo is sadly relegated to only a few measly seconds onscreen (most of which are seen in the trailer).
If you enjoy speculative science fiction and breathtaking cinematography, "The Creator" might be worth checking out. It's like a mash-up of "Star Wars", "Blade Runner", "Akira", and "Apocalypse Now." The story is serviceable, but overwhelmingly depressing, and the film delivers more of a visual punch than a cerebral one.