The Creator

With the success of Rogue One, Disney's best Star Wars film, I had hoped we would be seeing a lot more of director Gareth Edwards but it would take nearly eight years until he would return in 2023 with The Creator. Thankfully the reshoots that saw him removed from the director's chair hadn't burnt any bridges with Disney and here he would write and direct any incredibly economic sci-fi action film with an $80 million budget. I found reading about his process to be very interesting but could I say the same for the film itself?

Set in the not-too-distant-future, humanity is at war with AI after a catastrophic event. America suffered greatly and is using soldiers, as well as highly advanced weaponry, to hunt down outlawed technology abroad to prevent any future events. John David Washington's former soldier is recruited on a covert mission to enter South East Asia and destroy a new deadly weapon but the mission is more than what he signed-up for. 

The Creator is a visually impressive film, making full use of its spectacular locations while carefully blending in CGI to show a believable take on the future that feels very grounded. Unfortunately the script is far from even being half-baked and is painfully wooden as it bounces metaphors off the heads of audiences when acting as if it is far superior. The end result is an intriguing setup that quickly runs out of steam and buckles under the lengthy 133 minute running time which becomes a gloomy slog to get through before the tediously telegraphed conclusion.

I wanted to enjoy The Creator and did find some moments in the first half that worked quite well but the story needed a tighter editor because there isn't enough story to justify taking so much time. Sci-fi fans will still find some of the visuals to be impressive and this is a great example of how films don't have to be expensive to look expensive but sadly I can't recommend this average flick which fails to offer anything memorable.