Movies

What Critics And Audiences Are Saying About The Creator

John David Washington The Creator 20th Century Studios
By Joe Roberts

"The Creator" is finally here, and so are the first reactions. Much like with his debut film, "Monsters," director Gareth Edwards managed to stretch a meager budget to tell a truly epic sci-fi tale with "The Creator." His first film since 2016's "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story," this futuristic action thriller is set during a war between humans and AI. It tells the story of Joshua (John David Washington), an ex-special forces agent who's tasked with entering enemy territory to kill the "Creator," the person responsible for giving rise to AI who has now created a weapon capable of wiping out the human race entirely. Once Joshua tracks down the weapon, however, he's surprised to learn that this all-powerful weapon is an AI-powered child.

The movie has already caused somewhat of a buzz for Edward's unorthodox approach to filming. Not only did the director eschew using green screen as much as possible, he also chose to shoot most of the film on the prosumer Sony FX3 camera — a move that surely has wide-ranging implications for the film industry. (You can buy the camera right now for about $4,000!) Edwards also utilized guerilla shooting methods, choosing to use a small crew and natural lighting when possible. For one scene in particular, the director used actual nuclear physicists as extras in exchange for gaining access to his ideal location for a pivotal sequence.

So, has using all these innovative and novel filming methods resulted in a movie worth seeing? Beyond that, is it enough to propel a movie based on an original idea to box office success? "The Creator" debuts in theaters this week, but some critics have already seen it, so we already have a rough idea of the answer to these questions.

What does /Film think?

John David Washington The Creator 20th Century Studios/Oren Soffer

Back in April 2023, critics and Cinemacon attendees got a sneak peek at "The Creator" when 15 minutes of footage was shown at the convention. /Film's Ben Pearson was able to catch the brief preview, writing at the time that the film "looks like it could be a surprise great movie of 2023." Then, our own Vanessa Armstrong got the chance to see three sequences from the movie in IMAX, writing that the footage "hints at a blockbuster genre film that — wait for it — has a well-thought-out story with fully developed characters who go on an emotional journey" Well, now that the /Film crew has had a chance to see the full movie, has it delivered on these promises?

In his review of "The Creator," Rafael Motamayor praised the film as a "visually stunning piece of science fiction with big ideas and big performances," likening it to "Star Wars: A New Hope" in the sense that it's "a story of rebellion complete with a magical child, an evil battle station with a weapon that can completely obliterate planets, and a band of rebels led by an esteemed actor." However, the writing appeared to be an issue, with Motamayor highlighting how the script "never follows through on the deeper or more complex ideas it brings up, and overly simplifies its conflict and the people involved."

Meanwhile, /Film's Bill Bria tweeted (X-ed?) his opinion that "The Creator" is worth seeing twice just to wrap your head around the "fascinating layers" of the film.

In Bria's view, this isn't "the simplistic narrative it appears to be at first," suggesting it's by no means unanimous that Edwards and co-writer Chris Weitz botched the script's exploration of those "more complex ideas."

What are critics saying?

Spaceship The Creator 20th Century Studios

At the time of writing, "The Creator" has a respectable 79% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, among those critics less than impressed by Gareth Edwards' sci-fi adventure there was a recurring sentiment that echoed that of /Film's Rafael Motamayor, i.e. that the film looks incredible, but the writing suffers. Inverse's Hoai-Tran Bui wrote that the film is "a visually stunning but emotionally hollow effort" that "mistakes its inspired vision of a new kind of sci-fi world for greatness." IGN's A. A. Dowd, who had an overall positive take on the film, echoed that view, writing that "The Creator" is "jaw-dropping in its imagery, its relatively frugal special effects, and the detailed depth of its futuristic design," before noting that "it's shakier as drama and sci-fi."

On the whole, however, critics seem impressed with Edwards' accomplishment, with Nerdtropolis editor Sean Tajipour tweeting about the movie's "mind-blowing visuals" and hailing John David Washington's performance as being "on another level."

Overall, the general consensus on "The Creator" seems to be largely positive. But it's worth noting that another recurrent criticism of the film is that it leans too heavily on its influences. Edwards has openly stated that he took inspiration from such classics as "Apocalypse Now" and "Blade Runner" among others, even describing his film as "a melting pot of movies [he] grew up loving," and referring to it as a "Vietnam movie mixed with robotic sci-fi" in a behind-the-scenes clip. For some critics, this was all too obvious.

Noah Berlatsky, of the Chicago Reader, for example, described the film as "hammered, welded, and spackled together from a whole lot of other better and more coherent films." The Daily Beast's Nick Schager also viewed "The Creator" as a "crushingly derivative amalgam of assorted genre forefathers."

What are fans saying?

Madeleine Yuna Voyles The Creator 20th Century Studios/Oren Soffer

Critics are, of course, not everything. How an audience responds to your film is arguably more important, and thus far there have been a select few fans that have been treated to early previews. Days prior to the film's official release, secret screenings of "The Creator" took place, giving fans a chance to see the movie early, and of course, providing fuel for the inevitable social media "reactions" that have become such a crucial part of the Hollywood marketing machine.

The succinctly-named "Nice Jewish Guy" simply had this to say:

He followed that up with his opinion that "the first half was good," suggesting his disappointment stems from a lackluster second half. And while there's plenty of positivity for Gareth Edwards' film on social media, digging a little deeper reveals an audience split between either feeling let down, like our Nice Jewish friend, or dubbing "The Creator" the best film of the year. Stephen Sean Ford, for instance, declared Edwards' movie the best sci-fi movie of the year.

Meanwhile, Comicbook.com writer Brandon Davis called "The Creator" the "best film of the year" — a quote which the film's official X account quickly emblazoned on its banner image.

At this stage, it remains to be seen whether "The Creator" can become a rare big-budget original sci-fi hit at the box office. It will be going up against "Saw X," which also has the potential to become a hit, so we'll see if Edwards has done enough — and whether that gulf between viewers who either loved or hated the film widens — when "The Creator" hits theaters on September 29, 2023.

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