“They’re not real.” Oh, how quickly Joshua (John David Washington) finds himself eating those words in Gareth Edwards’ visual feast “The Creator.” In it, the main protagonist is tasked with infiltrating the evil artificial intelligence of the future — with a tiny ounce of revisionist history — and taking them down. But is A.I. really evil? That’s the big question the sci fi epic wrestles with during its runtime. And mostly succeeds. It puts forth a believable world of 2065 that is a cross between “Blade Runner” and Cyberpunk 2077; with less grit than the former and not as nerdy as the latter. As far as cool sci fi technology: there’s the NOMAD weapon, from the U.S. Army ™ of course, that can seemingly sweep across the world with ease a la hammer of dawn. And “the child,” Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) is able to use the powers of computer persuasion, if you will.
“The Creator” definitely benefits from Edwards’ previous experience providing us big action with the likes of “Star Wars: Rogue One” and “Godzilla,” but is lacking a bit on the story front. Things tend to be a little convenient and just within reach for the main protagonist most of the film and the final act’s delivery is a bit predictable. Otherwise, “The Creator” serves as a good counter to the “4LL A.I. is b4d” narrative that we’ve been seing lately and presents a decent case that our future robot overlords might not be so bad, after all. At least enough to not turn them off completely, but instead — like Joshua eventually learns — keep them on standby…
We Got Comms! 