2023 has brought us a multitude of original films to the box office. In the age of remakes and reboots, it has still managed to be an exciting year for movies. Spanning various genres, 2023 has seen innovation in the horror genre with Talk To Me and Infinity Pool as well as in biographical pictures like Killers of The Flower Moon and Oppenheimer. No matter what kind of films you like, this year has offered something to be excited about. For fans of science fiction, however, most of everything we’ve seen showing in theaters this year has been a sequel or a remake. So, when I first saw the trailer for The Creator, I was ecstatic.
Following Joshua (John David Washington) a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving his missing wife (Gemma Chan), The Creator throws its viewer into a world of division. Humanity and AI both walk the Earth and claim it as theirs. Our protagonist is hired to find and kill the Creator, the architect of AI who possesses an advanced weapon and the key to end the war. The Creator offers a story rich with lore and backstory. Over the two-hour runtime, the information dumping felt convoluted at times and most of the big twists didn’t pay off or hit as hard as they were supposed to. An amalgamation of tropes and characters we’ve already seen from the genre, The Creator feels all too familiar and doesn’t bring anything new or exciting thematically to the sci-fi genre. Edwards’ and Chris Weitz’s script would hardly register as one of the year’s precious few “original” studio projects if not for how it was shot.
Director Gareth Edwards has brought some of my favorite films to life in the past with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Godzilla and Monsters. As a longtime viewer of his work, there seems to be a common thread carrying through all of his films. The plot and characters feel distant in a world that feels so close and real. A former visual effects artist, Edwards has stated that his strength lies in the visuals and how things are shot is important to his process as a director. This strength is very apparent in this movie, the world feels large and beautiful. CGI is used but in a much smarter and cost-efficient way compared to big-budget-green- screened films we see all too much of.
Overall, The Creator doesn’t live up to what it wants to be. Deriving from a mishmash of sci-fi films of the past, there isn’t a lot original about the story. It still proves to be a visually striking movie that challenges some conventions with how it is shot, but it can’t make up for the lackluster story and characters.
Gabriel Biennas is a sophomore documentary studies and art double major who values originality above all else. You can reach Gabriel at [email protected].