The Creator (2023)

Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: John David Washington, Madeline Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan

Synopsis:
A soldier who infiltrated the AI sympathizers in New Asia is called back into service in a renewed effort to hunt down the AI developer known as Nimrata.

Impressions:
Although I didn't feel compelled to see this when it was out in theaters, I had heard good things about this from a VFX standpoint and it is nice to see a scifi flick that isn't a sequel, prequel or remake of an existing franchise. That being said, some people do joke that Gareth Edwards went with what he knew and basically did Rogue One again. There are some superficial similarities, to be sure, but don't discount the film on that account. Discount it on account of the writing. There are some interesting ideas here and occasional glimmers of promise, but the framing of the two factions is rather eye-rolling. If there are ever tribunals for traitors to humanity siding with our machine overlords, this movie will be entered as evidence against the writers. I get the subversion that they're going for, but they're not being as clever as they think. There are also a number of logistical issues that you may or may not find immersion-breaking. Weakness in the plot, characters and setting aside, the look of the film is impressive and it's almost worth seeing just for the visuals. Honestly, shortcomings aside, I'll still recommend giving it a watch. We're a bit starved for quality scifi as of late, so a well-presented non-franchise film deserves a little love. Who knows? What didn't work for me might just work for you.

Rating:
Watch It