In The Creator, sentient robots aren’t the enemy: the script is .
Today, AI is a powerful, highly controversial tool used for data analysis and image generation; tomorrow, who knows what it could be? Will its potential for automation usher humanity into a workless age of plenty, or will it be leveraged to spread the wealth disparity unimaginably wider? If you asked Gareth Edwards, director of Rogue One and 2014’s Godzilla, he would explain rather enthusiastically that in the world of tomorrow, AI will become a bunch of really normal people with some gears stuck in their heads – and that’s pretty much it.
In The Creator, the colossal implications of non-human sentience and rapid automation are clumsily sidestepped in favour of a fairly written action-thriller. In this future, Artificial Intelligence has manifested in the form of sentient, inorganic machines capable of complex thought, memory, and emotion. These machines – called Simulants – are virtually indistinguishable from humans, save for being incapable of reproduction – oh, and they’ve got a big gaping hole going through their head. After a nuclear attack on Los Angeles causes the global West to declare war on the AI, Simulants from around the world are forced to flee to southeast Asia, where they hide in the jungle and wage guerrilla war on their technologically-overpowering American foes. If you suspect this premise may lean towards some sort of commentary on the Vietnam War, let me spare you the trouble: it’s really not that deep.
Carried by John David Washington and featuring Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, and Allison Janney, the film obscures the considerable talent of its cast with a script almost totally bereft of charm. Likely the most upsetting subversion of potential here is with newcomer and star, Madeline Yuna Voyles. Despite her obvious talent, the 9-year-old actress is stood centre stage and given about fourteen lines of dialogue in total. It becomes difficult to invest in this tale of machines-turned-human when one of your leads feels so robotic. She does the best with what she’s been given, though, and little Alphie stands out as one of the more compelling parts of the film.
Also worthy of praise is the film’s cinematography: modern master Grieg Fraser (Dune, The Batman, Vice) continues his many-years-streak of just absolutely killing the game. Having previously collaborated with Gareth Edwards on Rogue One and making cinema history with Dune, Fraser’s immense skill is well-utilized here to provide the same sense of scale and immersion which he’s become known for. The spaceships feel huge and inevitable, the closeups are tight and intimate, and the explosions are, well, sick as hell.
Despite its considerable merit, though, the film never manages to escape the immense gravity of its lackluster script. The movie’s a little less action-packed and a little more action-laden. In a runtime of just over two hours, the film had about four good laughs, of which only two seemed intentional. The characters definitely do and say things, but never with the depth, conviction, or personality which would make them memorable.
Ultimately, the biggest failing of the script is that it treats its central premise as an afterthought. That the underdogs happen to be robots doesn’t make a difference to anything; they never feel like robots. They have human bodies and human emotions, and when you shoot them with a gun, they die. The fact that they can’t reproduce doesn’t come up until the plot needs it to, and when it does, it’s dropped almost immediately. Other noteworthy features about robots and AI – their ability to access the internet, for instance, exist without a body, or live basically forever – just don’t come up at all. When the plot wants them to be robots, they’re robots, and when it wants them to be human, they’re exactly as human as any of the other characters.
Look. I’m more than happy to see a high-budget, sci-fi epic remain blissfully unattached to Star Wars, Marvel, or any other franchise. I was impressed by some of the visuals and amazed by the production. My only wish is that next time we get such a feature, it stands as a high-water mark for independent storytelling – rather than making us wish we were watching Rogue One.
“Artificial Intelligence & AI & Machine Learning” by mikemacmarketing is licensed under CC BY 2.0.