Gareth Edwards' "THE CREATOR"
Review by Dennis D. McDonald
I saw THE CREATOR in a theater soon after seeing WANDERING EARTH II and found the similarities and differences between the two quite interesting.
They both make use of extraordinarily extensive and detailed special effects to illustrate technological advances.
They both incorporate themes of artificial intelligence and the conflicts that can arise between humans and technology.
They both incorporate sentimentality and human relationships (and children) to contrast with overwhelming technologies.
In both films Americans come off as “the bad guys.”
Of the two, WANDERING EARTH II makes much more use of the “eye candy” approach to movie-making. Its use of special effects to illustrate size, scale, and machines in motions, while impressive, becomes tiresome after a while. It’s as if the producers’ philosophy was “more is more” as opposed to “less is more.” THE CREATOR on the other hand puts more effort into portraying the art and beauty of the impressive images on display; at times, for example, I was reminded of the illustrations of Simon Stålenhag in his book THE ELECTRIC STATE.
THE CREATOR also makes use of extraordinary special effects. Its pacing and rendering of small- and large-scale images of humans interacting with robots (including robots dressed as monks in saffron-colored robes!) is much better integrated with the overall action. This is due, I think, to a much more story focused approach by director Edwards. WANDERING EARTH II masterfully illustrates grand events and action sequences; THE CREATOR does a much better job of integrating action events around the story.
Where THE CREATOR falls down, I think, is in the individual story elements built around the individual characters. There’s no question that the conflict between humans and AI based robots is masterfully illustrated on a grand scale. Nevertheless, I found the number of characters outstripped the ability of the audience to emotionally engage with each. This, coupled with reliance on a few-too-many sci-fi-adventure tropes, unfortunately waters down the overall emotional impact of the movie.
I came out of the theater feeling I had just witnessed a spectacularly illustrated “decent” sci-fi novel that was very well written, dramatic, well-paced, and clever. But it’s not going to rise to the level of “classic” due to over-reliance on familiar characters and situations.
Still, you would be nuts not to see this in a decent theater with a decent sound system. It’s a magnificent piece of work. It’s just not as profound as I had hoped.
Review copyright(c) 2023 by Dennis D. McDonald