By Mike “Big Mike” Seibert, Ari Hoffman’s Afternoon Show Producer
Listen to Ari and I discuss The Creator here:
Not a reboot, sequel, prequel, not a comic book super hero movie, or anything based on a book, graphic novel, or video game, or any other kind of existing intellectual property, The Creator from Gareth Edwards (Godzilla (2014), Rogue One) is one of my favorite movies of the year.
Thoughtful and thought-provoking, it’s a refreshingly original sci-fi action film for grow-ups.
Amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua (John David Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife (Gemma Chan), is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.
The performances are terrific, especially the surprisingly villainous turn by Allison Janney and newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles steals the show as the AI child, Alphie. It’s one of the best performances by a child actor I’ve ever seen; she was only 7 years old at the time of filming!
I was also thoroughly impressed by the visual effects. It was a surprise to me that production budget was only $80 million – that’s $20 million less than Expend4bles, a movie that had especially terrible special effects! During a summer packed with blockbusters with budgets ranging from $200 – $300 million, it’s refreshing to see a visually interesting world brought to life on a smaller budget, without feeling cheap.
As of this writing, The Creator is getting stomped at the box office, well behind a reboot of The Exorcist and sequels to Paw Patrol and Saw. In my opinion, this is indicative that audiences might not be interested in new ideas – however, I’m not disinherited, as I’d like to think the movie will find its audience in time. Several classic movies like Blade Runner, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and the Shawshank Redemption (just to name just a few) all went on to be well-loved classics, despite being box-office failures.
The Creator could become a sci-fi classic, standing in the same category as The Terminator, RoboCop, and the original Star Wars.
See it on the biggest screen you can!
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