The Creator: Pretty But Shallow

Anyone who goes to see The Creator this weekend will have most likely seen most of the narrative beats in this movie at some point in the last few years. It’s been said before that clichés are not necessarily a bad thing, however, a writer/director who will rely on familiar narrative beats should do something else in the film to make it worth watching. Fortunately for The Creator, it delivers a beautifully shot cinematic experience with outstanding visuals and sound that mostly makes up for an overly familiar story.

The Creator follows Joshua Taylor (John David Washington), a sergeant in the US military during an ongoing war against an AI-guided uprising of humanoid machines. When the humans get wind of a creation by the AI that could turn the tide of the war, Taylor is sent to find and destroy it, only to discover “it” is a child that can control technology with its mind. Allison Janney, Gemma Chan, and Ken Watanabe also star.

The movie is well executed, even if some of the narrative beats are a bit stale (especially considering what else has come out this year). John David Washington continues to prove himself to be a reliable talent who can be counted on to turn out a solid performance every time he shows up and the supporting cast does a great job of selling the world. On a technical level, the film has some great cinematography an the sound mix is fantastic. If one is going to see this movie purely for the narrative, they will probably be disappointed because the film is largely a mix of The Last of Us, The Mandalorian, and a few other modern science fiction films for flavor.

That said, it will still be very hard to overlook the fantastic visual and production design that are the movie's major selling point. While some aspects of the plot feel derivative, the world feels totally unique and is rendered beautifully, especially on a budget of around $80 million. The designs of the robots are unique and the world feels lived-in in a way that is hard to create for a stand-alone movie.

While the narrative may not be anything special, the visuals and sound mix more than make up for it which makes The Creator a must-watch experience for theaters. The world is beautifully designed and will likely net the film a few Oscar nominations going into this year’s award season. It is entertaining the biggest science fiction fan because the emotional moments do land for the most part thanks to solid performances from a proven cast. It is worth watching on a premium format screen, though one would definitely benefit from seeing it in a theater in any format.

Final Rating: 8/10