The Creator

Una película de ciencia ficción sorprendentemente promedia que no atrae, ni sorprende y tampoco impresiona con el escenario. La mayor parte del tiempo se desarrolla en chozas en los campos asiáticos y, además, en la oscuridad. Y cuando llega la ciudad futurista, parece sacada de Blade Runner. Y la maquinaria pesada, vadeando la jungla, justo como si fuera de Cameron. Además, John David Washington es también un problema por sus limitadas opciones actorales: no se le puede considerar un fugitivo consciente del lado de los rebeldes, ni un protector de la inocencia infantil. Y cuando se siente repetidamente triste por su exnovia, sin poder puede evocar emociones, se vuelve molesto con el tiempo. El único elemento actoral que aporta un poco de vida a la película es la pequeña Madeleine Yuna Voyles. Dos estrellas y media. (02.10.2023)

I would never cast young Washington in a leading role again, his acting bad (and I'm taking off one star for that). Otherwise I found this film terribly rich, both visually and emotionally. Gareth Edwards takes us through several locations with a succession of gorgeous images, whether it's a city with dozens of glowing neon signs like in Blade Runner, an Asian landscape where ancient Buddhist culture clashes interestingly with modern sci-fi elements, or the Nomad super spacecraft that Kosinski seems to have invented for Oblivion. I was especially impressed with Asia and how thoughtfully and seamlessly the modern architecture builds on the old buildings, creating such an interesting contrast, and the viewer immersion is incredible. I'm not a fan of AI, but I still didn't mind that Edwards relativizes it and actually puts it in the position of a positive element, just like Blade Runner did 40 years ago, the story thus gets a charge that kept my attention throughout and the few logical lapses didn't ruin it for me. Unfortunately, Edwards is a misunderstood filmmaker. Whether it is with Godzilla, which was a clever homage to the TOHO's films, or here, with the heavy-duty sci-fi that isn't being made much these days. I can only be comforted by the fact that Blade Runner was also critically panned and rejected by audiences in its day, so .... maybe it'll come out in a few decades too, Gareth. (26.11.2023)

And the bubble has definitely burst, so if anyone thought that Gareth Edwards was a directorial genius who was forced out of Rogue One by the evil Disney, and Tony Gilroy only “finished his job for him”, they're in for a nasty clash with reality. The Creator is a beautiful looking film. Physical, full of cool gizmos, gadgets, robots, tanks, rockets, and generally beautiful to look at. It looks very decent in motion too, Edwards is quite adept at war action, and at some points his latest film is reminiscent of Terminator or Avatar; and also of the film we've been looking forward to since the trailers. But then there's a lot of things he can't do. Edwards is a brilliant designer, a decent executor and a lousy storyteller. The longer I watched The Creator, the more I actually felt sorry for him, because behind that veneer of great production design is a woefully banal story, told in an unimaginative and uninteresting way. All the clichés you can think of are there, even the ones that you'll think would be a bit embarrassing if someone used them. Besides, The Creator tries desperately to pretend to be something more and offer some philosophizing in addition to the simple story, but Edwards is woefully unable to work with it. And the more he tries to look clever and multi-layered, the more it becomes apparent how superficial and boring this film is as the running time progresses. Nice, but... shitty, I guess not, but just not very good, either. (28.09.2023)

A film whose creators stutter, can’t remember the beginning of a sentence and constantly run the gamut from “original sci-fi” to clichés and desperate banalities that mask one thing: The Creator says nothing relevant about the phenomenon of AI, which is merely another spectacular decorative element in a film that’s completely dependent on design. Neither the plot nor the world of the film makes sense; given how much space The Creator has, it never creates a coherent and comprehensible world. By comparison, even the didactic Elysium comes across as an engrossing fictional world. Edwards’ directing tries to go in depth, but it rather unconvincingly jumps from details to the big picture, from the present to the past. Some of the actors’ lines really could have been written only by Chris Weitz... Washington plays an utterly two-dimensional character who, through his suffering, only reinforces the impression that The Creator demands grand emotions, to which he is absolutely not entitled. Instead, it has the same feelings of emptiness and lifelessness as Godzilla and Rogue One. (27.09.2023)

Creator was supposed to be the sci-fi hit of the year, but the actual result was almost unwatchable, I suffered unbelievably. In short, Gareth Edwards made a film that, in its style, evoked the Star Wars I hated. I was kind of hoping it would be something along the lines of Independence Day, only with UFOs replaced by an artificial intelligence, but I was sorely mistaken. The film gave me the impression that with 40 minutes gone by, I still didn't know what was going on, there was no introduction to the characters or plot, just one scene after another, with zero viewer engagement. It's like putting episode 6 of a random series and trying to get my bearings on the plot. I was absolutely not entertained by Washington, and the rest of the characters didn't engage me either. The action was dull, I found it to be childish and unexciting. There’s nothing epic, no wow moment, no suspense or atmosphere, just something happening and I didn't really care by halfway through the film, I just wanted it to end. In the end I'm glad I didn't go to the cinema, I've never seen more boring action sci-fi. Disappointment of the year. 3/10. (19.11.2023)

An audiovisual feast... A beautiful setting in an underdeveloped Asia that is being destroyed by imperialist (American) scum with their ruthless missiles. Add to that a roaring Zimmer and maybe Radiohead. Unfortunately, though, with a stupid, unlikeable hero who doesn't know what he wants and betrays everyone who comes in contact with him. John David Washington is cruelly out of place here, and even the little girl is better than him, but that's the least of the problems. The narrative structure is fine, though I was expecting a more interesting twist, but the bigger problem is when some things contradict each other, failing to follow the given rules of the imagined world, which itself works rather oddly. They must have left a lot out in, and it often feels like stroking against the grain. There’s a good film buried in there somewhere, but Gareth Edwards has badly mishandled it and I can't work out if it was already on paper or later in the editing room. (30.09.2023)

A mix of Oblivion, Blade Runner, Elysium and Independence Day, with a meditative Asian setting and a completely uninteresting script and characters. It's a huge shame. The Creator demands big emotions from the viewer, but is unable to offer adequate material to make them happen. That said, the technical aspects are top-notch and the plot premise itself – the clash between A.I. and humans – is very timely and interesting. Untapped potential and Clair de Lune certainly doesn't save it. (26.11.2023)

Why was such a mundane story set in such an amazing world, why did I not care about the characters, and why was the ending so drawn out as to be almost annoying? Gareth Edwards couldn't build (and tear down) on the foundations of Godzilla or Star Wars Rogue One, and this time he came up with something of his own. Unfortunately, he didn't quite succeed. The story is about as dull as the Hans Zimmer music that accompanies it, and if it weren't for the technical flourishes that rival Avatar and that kept me entertained pretty much nonstop, The Creator would have been a mediocre attempt at sci-fi with an idea. I got the urge to watch Blomkamp's Elysium, which is similar in some ways, but it didn't play at anything. (30.09.2023)

The Creator es un gran logro técnico considerando su presupuesto de "tan solo" 80 millones de dólares, ya que con sus magníficos efectos visuales y su excelencia narrativa supera a todas esas películas de ciencia ficción sobredimensionadas y computarizadas de los últimos años. Lamentablemente, no se puede compartir el mismo entusiasmo por el guion, cuya estructura es un esquema gastado y que se basa en tantas casualidades y decisiones extrañas de los personajes, que la cabeza da vueltas cuando uno reflexiona un poco al respecto. Es una gran lástima, uno quisiera ser su fan. (21.11.2023)

¿La primera superproducción cuyo guion fue escrito íntegramente por la IA? The Creator definitivamente impresionará con sus maravillosas imágenes, ambientadas en lugares cautivadores y, a veces, excelente trabajo de cámara, pero en cuanto a la historia es una amalgama de todos los motivos y elementos posibles de ciencia ficción (Distrito 9, Chappie, Cortocircuito, Terminator, Avatar, etc.). Incluso pensé que aquí realmente no había ninguna idea original. La primera media hora es genial, pero luego rápidamente se convierte en una interminable persecución del gato y el ratón, llena de clichés y sin moverse del mismo lugar, cuyo final es el más predecible posible. La película intenta ser emotiva, pero a mí no me conmovió en absoluto, y eso que en los últimos años me emociono bastante fácil, y estas relaciones padre/hijo logran afectarme casi siempre. A pesar de todos los aspectos negativos, coloco la película entre los esfuerzos por encima de la media dentro de la débil competencia de los últimos años, y definitivamente recomiendo disfrutarla en la pantalla: IMAX mejora las cualidades visuales y garantiza una experiencia de transmisión satisfactoria, que, sin embargo, se desvanece cada día más después de la proyección. (26.09.2023)

The Creator is one of those films in which the formal side wins out over the content. Visually, it offers appealing locations and, above all, the visuals of the "simulacra", but in terms of story it is a compilation of earlier sci-fi pieces without any major attempt to provide a new insight on the subject of AI. In this "compilation" respect, I thought mostly of James Cameron's work while watching it (Terminator, Avatar or Alita: Battle Angel). Alongside the themes of AI and humans vs. machines, the father-child (Joshua-Alphie) plane had some potential, but was drowned in mediocre concept and a weepy denouement. Of the cast, the young Madeleine Yuna Voyles appealed to me the most, the rest was rather bland. Still, The Creator is certainly worth seeing in the cinema, even if it doesn't offer much material for deeper reflection after the screening. (22.10.2023)