The Creator (2023) (1 Viewer)

[Tino]

I’m a sucker for these types at movies. I think it looks terrific.

 

[Alex...]

 

[Alex...]

 

[Joe Wong]

Initial reactions:

‘The Creator’ First Reactions Revealed

Gareth Edwards' sci-fi epic, starring John David Washington, had its first press screening on Monday.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

 

[Tino]

Just saw an interview with the director and he stated this film was shot in 3.5:1 AR and will be shown 2.76:1 in theaters. Screen X theaters will show it in full 3.5:1.

 

[JohnRice]

I hope it's good.

As far as the trailer is concerned, long ago I stopped even trying to judge a movie by its trailer.

 

[Josh Dial]

I'm going to this tonight. Looking forward to it.

 

[Tino]

76% on RT

Im going Friday Am. IMAX.

 

[Jason_V]

Really enjoyed The Creator for a lot of reasons. It does what sci fi should be doing (IMHO): talk about a societal issue in a future context. There's action, there's lots of amazing visuals and a fairly well-developed world to explore. Even over two hours, my mind didn't wander and I was never bored.

The reveal, though, I figured out a good half hour before it's actually shown on screen. Oh well.

One thing I didn't love is the editing between the sections. There's quick flashbacks to remind the audience of different characters. Yes, that may be needed, but the flashbacks seem clunky.

Overall, I think the story holds up and I can recount how everything happened (and the "why" behind it). I have a lot of post-movie questions I'd like to see resolved in some kind of follow-up, but pretty happy with the movie on the whole.

 

[Josh Dial]

I'm going to write something that I don't often write here on the HTF:

I hated The Creator. I thought it was terrible.

This was the worst sci-fi movie I've seen since Ad Astra, which was another movie I actively hated.

I'll start with the only three things I liked.

The visuals were stellar. The entire production team did an incredible job.

Allison Janney was great, as always. But oh, CJ Cregg, why did you do this project?

Madeleine Yuna Voyles was also good.

Everything else was a total misstep for me.

This is a spoiler-free review because, well, the movie has no story to spoil.

Chief among the problems was--as always--John David Washington, who continues to be an absolute charisma drain on every scene he's in. He might be one of the worst actors getting tons of work today. He does not react to scene partners. He can barely give his own lines. These are not acting choices he's making as he "lives" his characters. His characters lack emotional depth on screen because he lacks emotion in his performances. There's a scene between him and Janney's character where the two are discussing who they lost in the war. Janney gives her lines some emotional heft, while Washington's face is totally blank most of the time like it's struggling to remember his lines, though it drops on occasion to reflect what I can only call boredom. He's often the worst thing about every movie he's in. So true here. Madeleine Yuna Voyles is nine years old and acts circles around him.

The visuals are a plus. But the movie never goes beyond them. It's like The Creator is "Concept Art: The Movie". Almost every single shot looks like it's ripped straight from a coffee table book for wicked concept art from classic sci-fi movies. It's too bad the movie doesn't care about how cool it looks. Most of the time the movie is actively disinterested in telling us about things. I'm not looking for over-explaining. I'm not looking for boring exposition (I don't want to invoke the "show, don't tell" phrase, which I think gets said far too often and frequently stands in the place of real criticism). But it was like the movie hated its own world and refused to tell us about it.

I've read a few comments prior to release praising the fact the movie is a "new IP" and "not a sequel or comic book movie". Except the plot here is so derivative it's almost like a sequel to every "is AI bad?" movie ever made. There is no new ground here. Nothing interesting to explore (or, more correctly, there could be something interesting to explore but the movie doesn't want to do it).

But is there even really a story to tell? I guess technically there is a plot. Is there a point? A message? Is it AI bad or is it AI good? America bad? America good? People bad? People good? Is good/evil even the binary being explored? I don't know and neither does the movie. And not in a "too cool for school" vague way.

There's an hour-and-a-half of movie missing and I fear that's where all the story is.

The dialogue was just bad. I knew I was going to be in for a rough road when, in the first 10 minutes, Washington's character says into a walkie-talkie, I'm undercover! Call off the attack!"

Remember Atari games and their amazing box art? Remember how badass Missile Command looked with the dude in the cool helmet at the massive computer firing huge ass rockets? Damn that looks sweet! Play this game and this will be you!

The Creator is the Atari cover art of movies. Except at least with Missile Command you got to use your imagination to make the game come to life.

No amount of imagination could resuscitate this movie.

4/10 (your time is better spent watching After Yang).

 

[Edwin-S]

So this is going to be one of those love it or hate it style films?

 

[jayembee]

So this is going to be one of those love it or hate it style films?

Apparently so.

Then again, there's probably never been one single film that was either universally praised or universally panned, so...there's that.

 

[dpippel]

Then again, there's probably never been one single film that was either universally praised or universally panned, so...there's that.

What? Have you never heard of Battlefield Earth?

 

[jayembee]

What? Have you never heard of Battlefield Earth?

I'm sure there were Scientologists who thought it was just dandy.

Just checked RT: 3% Critics and 12% Audience. So, yeah, there were some who liked it.

 

[JoeStemme]

Just got back. THE CREATOR isn't bad. It sort of exists in a similar universe as BLADE RUNNER 2049. It has issues, but, it's certainly better than average and has some genuine ideas.

More once I absorb it

 

[Tino]

I saw as it today in IMAX. Again my thoughts are tainted by being tired and nodding off a few times.

I liked it but agree with some of the comments above, especially Washington’s performance.

Good not great sci fi. Great visuals and intriguing story. I’d give it 6.5/10

 

[Patrick Sun]

While "The Creator" out-Oppenheimered "Oppenheimer" in the boom-boom side of things, it's a bit of a miss, script-wise. I also don't really know why Washington gets these starring roles when he's an average actor with little charisma.

While Gareth Edwards struggles to prop up this world of AI's impact on Earth, the geo-political throughline is threadbare amongst the rest of the world's reaction to the opening events depicted early in the film. Anyhow, the plot just lumbers clumsily from set piece to set piece, it would seem, and it doesn't really build towards anything more than a predictable ending. All in all, wish the script had more meat on its bones, especially in the humans/AI dynamic, rather than the mediocre black-white antagonism that propels the motivations of the characters. Sigh.

 

[Robert Crawford]

So you guys are saying that Washington doesn’t have neither the acting skills nor the charisma of his pop.

 

[TonyD]

So you guys are saying that Washington doesn’t have neither the acting skills nor the charisma of his pop.

Yes but he also doesn’t have that regardless of being Denzel’s son.
He’s a bit of a dud.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Yes but he also doesn’t have that regardless of being Denzel’s son.
He’s a bit of a dud.

Wow, you guys are unmerciful on Denzel’s son. I’ve only seen him in Spike Lee’s movie and thought he was fine in it.