Gareth Edwards’ sci-fi film The Creator pushes creative boundaries when it comes to the magical visuals and futuristic presentation of our world in many years to come, but it also touches on the topic of AI with sensitivity.
In a world where AI has been the talk of how it is molding and shaping our future, Edwards’ film explores a world where humans created AI to help us with day-to-day tasks but then saw that backfire with an attack on humans by the AI, or so it initially seems. The AI is soon developed in a way that depicts true human emotions, experiences, and feelings.
While is not likely that the AI we are accustomed to lead to a full-blown world war, in Edwards’ world, after an attack on Los Angeles is blamed on the AI, the robots are banned in the Western world, and a new weapon called NOMAD has been created to take down robots worldwide. From here the Western world is taking on the AI that is still active in Asia.
Weaved into amazing visual effects, there needs to be a storyline that moves the needle forward, and that is where we have Joshua and Maya’s story.
The storyline takes place in the 2060s when special agent Joshua (John David Washington) is sent on an undercover mission to “New Asia” to befriend a group of robot sympathizers to locate their leader. To find the Creator, Joshua befriends his daughter Maya (Gemma Chan), but he develops real feelings for her and they marry and she falls pregnant. However, during an attack by the military Maya is killed, and Joshua no longer wants to be apart of the cause, and abandons all human vs AI causes.
Fast forward a few years and with further AI robotic enhancements, military boss Howell (Allison Janney) convinces Joshua to join a team of operatives under the pretense that Maya and his child might still be alive. Their mission is to destroy a weapon the AI has been reportedly developng to take down NOMAD. The weapon turns out to be a childlike AI, with epithets of Joshua’s actual child. The story itself sympathizes with the AI and in some cases in our world where AI is seen as a threat that can replace the actions every day humans are used for, in Edwards’ world, most of the AI want to coexist and are trying to destroy NOMAD to prevent more destruction and have no intention of hurting humans.
Edwards combines a great storyline with artistic visuals that picture our future world in what it may or may not be in many years. Even LAX has been reinvented and it gives us a sense of reality while stepping into his world.
The Creator is a beautifully made film, that gets you in your feelings and takes you on an adventure while you disconnect from your world into theirs.
The Creator hits theatres on September 29