The Creator is a new movie from director Gareth Edwards. It is set fifty years in the future and depicts a war between humans and artificial intelligence.

The director of The Creator is the same director as Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, arguably the best Star Wars movie ever. I was looking forward to The Creator as I was expecting a sci-fi movie similar to Rogue One. I can say that the world given to us in The Creator was very similar to that of Rogue One, however, overall I was quite disappointed with the movie. 

From the two movies I have seen of his, I think I quite like Gareth Edwards' direction style. Obviously, I love Rogue One and would love to see another Star Wars movie from Edwards. However, the direction of The Creator felt very similar to that of Rogue One making the movie enjoyable in this way. The movie really immersed us in a world and had a steady balance of the world we know and a futuristic sci-fi world. This world was my favourite part of the movie. I would love to see another story set in this world that sees humans and artificial intelligence attempting to co-exist. The world presented to us certainly felt like something that could easily exist in fifty years' time. It is the perfect balance of what is familiar and what is fiction just like Rogue One. (All this talk of Rogue One is making me want another Rogue One!)

Another distinct feature of Edwards' direction style is the balance between practical and computer-generated effects. This is also what contributes to the balance of real and make-believe elements. This was also seen in Rogue One. The below video shows some behind-the-scenes footage of the making of Rogue One. This kind of blend of CGI and practical effects was easily seen in The Creator allowing for a sense of realism while gaining access to futuristic shots.

At this point in the review, I'm kind of talking about Rogue One more than The Creator and this speaks to how much I enjoyed The Creator. Because unfortunately, that is all the good I can say about The Creator.

The Creator's flaws really come down to the story. I've said how much I like Gareth Edwards' direction style, however, I do not think I like his stories. He was not a writer for Rogue One but was a writer for The Creator. The general idea of The Creator was an appealing concept, however, the actual story that the movie chose to tell was quite confusing and hard to follow. The synopsis I gave at the start of this review was not very detailed because, for the life of me, I could not outline the story of this movie. I was also expecting the movie to make some kind of political point about the danger of AI and robotics. However, the movie didn't actually take any kind of stance on the issue. Not that avoiding making a statement is necessarily a bad thing in a movie, however, The Creator seemed indecisive on whether the direction the world is headed in terms of AI and robotics is healthy or not.

The Creator also felt so long. It was only two and a quarter hours which is almost short for a movie of its genre. However, the movie felt much longer than this timeframe. For comparison, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes (whose review I released last week) ended at two hours and thirty-seven minutes, however, felt much shorter than The Creator. There weren't many likeable characters in The Creator either. They all felt pretty one-dimensional and didn't have the depth that was required to engage the audience.

I'd say that overall The Creator got worse as the movie progressed. I think that this is because of the lack of a gripping story. In the earlier parts of the movie, we were still being introduced to the characters and the world so the story was almost irrelevant. However, as the movie progressed and the plot and characters turned out to be confusing and pretty shallow, I found myself missing the earlier parts of the movie where the plot ceased to exist. In fact, this movie would have been better with no plotline at all. Just give us some incredible effects and cinematography, show us humans fighting robots and I would have loved this movie!

I'm giving The Creator a six out of ten. However, it should be noted that this score is held entirely from the direction and incredible blend of practical and computer-generated effects. If you want to watch this movie, go ahead! It is almost worth it just for the visuals. But I beg you, please skip over the boring scenes focussed on the plot. Don't worry, you won't miss anything.

Director: Gareth Edwards

Starring: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan

Year released: 2023

Review by Tristan Carr

Last edited: 03/12/2023