Denis Villenueve changed things with Arrival, challenging filmgoers to look at an alien “invasion” under a different lens. Instead of being an immediate threat, they were just large, potentially smarter and more tactical beings. Humans, of course, thought the worst and built up a plan to attack. But they also acted like overgrown children, nearly (thank you, linguistic champ Amy Adams) being fully unable to understand these new beings that landed on Earth.
With The Creator, Gareth Edwards takes that idea and pushes it a step further, envisioning a world where A.I. and humans work together to enforce one world, instead of destroying each other. That is until a nuclear bomb is detonated in Los Angeles, severing the ties and starting a war. The year is 2065, and Joshua Taylor (John David Washington) is a military operative enjoying a life with his wife until a premature mission goes wrong. Flash forward five years later, and he’s called in to track down the potential new threat, aka weapon of mass “we don’t get it” destruction, before it can eliminate everything.
This sets up a road movie with Washington and young star-in-the-making Madeleine Yuna Voyles. The latter is a human/alien hybrid, giving the film a Children of Men vibe that serves it well. Please don’t take the film comps as retractable swipes at its creativity; it’s quite the opposite. They take a football, so to speak, and keep moving with it from where the last filmmaker left off.
A relationship, one revolving around someone and their guardian, forms between the two leads--and it powers the movie. This is the movie where Washington becomes a true star, handling the weight of a big movie like his dad would in his prime. Alison Janney is exactly the relative, badass military bitch that this movie needs. Ken Watanabe is the aged yet still fiery soldier who will not stop protecting his way of life. Gemma Chan will break your heart in half.
Edwards finished the world he started with Rogue One, a masterful film in the Star Wars realm. This film has so many direct ties to that bittersweet journey for the filmmaker, whether it’s visual or theoretical. The Creator is his movie, and it’s a very good one that should marinate well.
Here’s 18 minutes of discussion on it, as I felt like making this review a spoken word/written hybrid. Enjoy and go see it in a theater. The Creator says so!
'The Creator' review: John David Washington becomes a movie star in Gareth Edwards' thought-provoking thriller