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Gareth just needs somebody who knows how to truly write a great script, then his movies could be superb. His eyes for cinematography and VFX is a rare talent in Hollywood these days
@@jackdriscoll8387 here's our dirty little secret when you reply to a you tube video,underneath the black line that appears you will see a smiling emoji in black and white,press on his face and SHAZAM Emoji man and his crew appear,have fun.
I hope it will make a lot of money. We need more original movies that are not part of a franchise. I also liked his Godzilla movie (it had so much respect for Godzilla, loved that) and his Monsters.
I saw the movie last night. I enjoyed this movie very much and I starting to like Gareth Edwards directing style with his meticulous detail in his film especially Sci-fi.
i really enjoyed your thorough and comprehensive review and thoughts on the creator. i personally loved it and felt very engaged throughout. the bridge scene you mention-i think i know which one you were talking about-had me fixed to the screen, heart racing and all. i think you put it best about how the story seemed to be the part that lacked the most and is arguably the most important aspect of any film. i imagine how much better it could’ve been if it went deeper and resolved the points you mentioned. i still love it despite that and even think it’s my favorite movie for 2023.
It was amazing. Art sound and visuals. Best film i've watched in the cinema and been in awe for some time. Films like this need to be celebrated, so more like this can be made.
Second review that confirmed my fears. Edwards & Blomkamp make very frustrating sci Fi films. Looks great, couple of solid set pieces but no heart or sense of drama. Oh well. Thanks
I just saw it, and it was better than I expected. Although it is a hollow film with dull characters and pacing being stretched similar to Rogue One (which I also enjoyed). It wasn’t anything special but it was great to see an original film other than a sequel, spin off or remake
Thank you for your reviews. They are always so insightful! Also, it's great that you revisit classic films and discuss your current reception of them. I was wondering, do you think that the need to dissect films for purposes of reviewing them interferes with your viewing experience? I mean, is it possible that your enjoyment of films like The Creator is marred by the fact that you need to deconstruct them?
As soon as I saw the first trailer I knew this was going to be exactly how you described it. Beautiful visuals with a script full of holes that leaves you with nothing to remember except grey.
Great assessment. I think movies are struggling for messages. Star Wars was an anti-corporate message that resonated with the world. Now we're so entrenched in the corporate bosom, we no longer see its villainy around us
I love Gareth Edwards films, but it is undeniable that he needs to find a good writer. I wanted to love The Creator, but couldn’t get fully into it. So many good ideas, but as you said half baked. I disagree with you on Rogue One though. He understood what makes Star Wars awesome. He gave us the coolest space battle sequences in cinematic history. I also thought the story arc of Galen added a lot to A New Hope.
I feel the same way looking at the trailers. At the same time, I feel I have to go and support the movie because this is the only way to show Hollywood that audiences will watch mid-budget original IP. 🤷
You are so spot on! He is playing house. He has talent, but doesn't really understand how to connect things together. Maybe he needs to have a sit down with Scorsese.
The movie could have been so much more! The most interesting idea that was alluded to was that AI was the next leap in evolution that could succeed because they did not feel fear and anger (or at least did not desire revenge) in contrast to humans who believed their fear and anger is what kept them safe. One change that could have played up this theme is if instead of controlling technology, Alfie made it sentient. Imagine an ending where the generals know that Alfie can make the station sentient and are doing everything in their power to stop it because they believe Alfie succeeding will lead to the US being nuked to oblivion; then he succeeds, and nothing happens (all human passengers are ordered to escape pods and the station just floats aimlessly). That would have been so much more powerful! As it was, it looked good but had no real purpose in existing (I also wish they had the courage to call it “Nirmata”, but that is a more minor gripe).
I chose to support the movie simply because we don’t have much of that these days and if it bombs I fear that would be it for original sci fi projects. But yeah, the story needs some work.
My thoughts after watching it are similar to yours. But I don't regret watching it, visually the film looks incredible, it feels made by a director that has a vision instead of something made by a comittee.
I have recently discovered your channel. I am really enjoying your content. I really agreed with your comments about Saltburn. I have seen it twice one on the big screen and the other on Prime. I still don't know if I like it. It was very contrived and all over the place. It seemed to be controversial because it could be. Didn't feel any connection with any of the characters. Yes Oliver was a clever manipulator and his performance was similar to his role in the movie The Killing Of A Sacred Deer. Though more disturbing. I loved Emerald's first movie Promising Young Woman. Loved Carey Mulligan in the movie. The movie was intoxicating the colour, the music. Carey Mullugan was very disturbed but glamorous.
Agree with everything you said. I was really puzzled reading comments from people saying they were crying at the end.. Why? I felt nothing in this movie. I cared about none of it. It was pretty.. That's about it. I do hope more "original" sci-fi gets made of this budget and level of execution. Just need some better writing.
I wrote those comments, so I'll answer you. I reacted to the movie's ending because I empathized with the little girl's plight. She's an innocent creature watching television alone in an isolated room. Then she gets set free. She walks outside to see the sky and the sunlight and the wind rippling through the grass, and she's like, "Life!" A few moments later she realizes her life mostly entails being trapped in a violent war between humans and robots. So she latches onto the protagonist because she's vulnerable and inexperienced. He protects her and eventually grows to value her. Then he dies. She's all alone again, but now she's experienced enough to feel loss, and if you watch the young actress's facial expressions at the end of film, and match those expressions up with the journey she's taken, then there a chance you'll empathize too. It's ridiculously high quality acting. Of course, there's a good chance you won't feel anything at all because the film is quite artful, and that's okay too. That's how art works. And the film is not perfect. Its characters are pretty bland. It works best as a thematically driven war story with peripheral elements involving A.I. If a story is thematically driven, it doesn't have to rely on strong character envelopment for depth. Think 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not to say The Creator measures up to 2001, but to judge it by its characters alone is to miss out on the movie's strongest elements: themes on war. And even those war themes involving personal tragedy come and go, especially in the third act when the movie attempts to give us the big action packed sequence we're all expecting and the little girl unleashes terror and violence all her own. In my opinion, the protagonist should have been the lonely little girl. Seeing her manufactured and raised in isolation to become a weapon to win the war would have ensured the themes a stronger supporting structure. In other words, put her in every scene. Oh well...
@@plath1756 Thanks for your thoughts. I agree, I think making the girl the protagonist would have been much better. I guess I found it hard to empathize with her because for most of her screen time she was just giving blank stares in response to the dull protagonist's questions. It took too long for her emotions to come through and when they did, I didn't feel the need to care.
Fair enough. I don't think the film went through great lengths to make her accessible. More attention to the relationship between her and the protagonist would have done wonders.
Just saw it today and this hits the nail on the head. Feel like the writing is just so afraid of doing anything beyond hitting certain marks, ticking boxes
what you said Maggie all rings absolutely true but i enjoyed this more than i thought i would given the less than original ideas and script plot points. the whole thing for me added up to more than the sum of it's part. the visuals go along way and also JDW performance too. i was never bored, it swept me along for the entire runtime and upon ending me and my buddy both turned to each other and said "that was great". turns out we both harboured internal reservations going in but were happily surprised coming out of it.
Interesting review. The trailer reveals a lot of effort in the visuals, as you mentioned. Looking inside heads will always be fun. I was gonna skip this one, but my friend got sick and my weekend plans are shredded... Maybe I'll check it out on the strength of you detailed analysis. Even though you didn't like the film, you obviously enjoyed reviewing it, which makes me think it's an interesting failure. Cool dress. Only one sleeve. I had to watch your review several times because I kept tuning out and staring at that sleeve and thinking, 'Is that dress alive? Oh no! It's wearing that woman!' Just kidding. Very classy.
Good point about the antagonist. Antagonists are often reduced to the "bad guy." But many times the antagonist is not who we think it is. Technically, it's the "agent of change" that disrupts your protagonist's worldview. William Wallace is the antagonist to Robert the Bruce in Braveheart. Furiosa is Nux's antagonist in Fury Road. Writers know how to write them. I think it's often the studio execs that want them neutered. Or outright removed.
Awe, first review I disagree w/you on. Don’t think every Sci fi film has to mean and do everything. This easily had some of the best sci fi elements of any film until now. The sound design was immaculate. It’s day one demo worthy if you’re into that sort of thing but i feel the important thing is to move CGI forward in a film that has nothing to do with Star Wars. Did we want the fairy tale ending, sure, but life is very seldom that way. I wanted a Pg-13 great sci-fi film that wasn’t corny or had one-liners or bad jokes (Ahem, Star Wars) and I felt it delivered on that front. So happy camper over here.
Yay! I've been scrolling through looking for a review that didn't rate this as a new masterpiece. Completely agree with everything you said. I was so removed emotionally from the film, the bridge seen was terribly flat an unengaging. I audibly laughed at a supposedly emotional beat. I just didn't care. I think Gareth Edward's is an exceptional visual director but a flawed storyteller.
Totally agree with your review. I’m ready to champion unique visions from filmmakers when they happen, but Gareth Edwards has yet to really strike gold with coming to any complete (or at the very least satisfactory) result of an artist with a realized work. The Creator is his latest in feeling completely artless despite its production design, a churn out from an AI bot on what *it* thinks a sci-fi film about itself should contain, taking cues from far better films and crafting often gigantic leaps in logic to go the path of least resistance from a narrative perspective - almost reductive from the very ideas it purports as being *productive.* Perhaps it yearns to be a lengthier novel in a larger series of books, but in this truncated filmic form, it could have used another generation through the machine for something more *cine*matic and not *auto*matic.
This is a fantastic review even though I liked the film, a lot more then you did. If the movie did the things you want it it could of been a classic but I think as is its still a great scifi film because it hit me in a bunch of my feels. I also loved Rogue one and 2014 Godzilla so maybe his film making style not your taste
I disagreed. I saw the early release yesterday. The Creator does have many memorable moments and adds a couple of ideas for the sci-fi genre that we haven't seen visualized in such a grand way before. There is also a ton of heart and emotion in this film, especially coming from the main leads, but also from supporting characters. It's surprising how negative this review is. It's been a while since we have seen an original story with amazing world-building like this, there are way more positive aspects to this movie than any of the negatives. If anyone is doubting about watching this movie, please don't hesitate and go watch it in a theater, this film was such a great experience on the big screen. Its different, submerges you in the world, and opens your curiosity constantly. The scale of things is really outstanding. You will not be disappointed.
So what exactly are the movie's strengths? You mentioned world building; which would make it a good sandbox to put in some characters, a plot, a story, conflicts, ideas, and concepts to explore. This is a starting point, or a prerequisite, much like an interesting setpiece or matte painting. But what makes "The Creator" a good movie?
@@elevenseven-yq4vu Just in case, did you watched the movie already? For me, this was a good movie because I was able to get emotionally attached the main characters while they go through their journey on this epic/massive world that uses technology in interesting ways (you kinda need to see the movie to understand what I am talking about), and whose main conflict makes you wonder about how things could happen in such a future. You also need to see this movie to understand why world building plays a big role here, on one side gives you wonderful imaginary (like Blade runner), but more importantly also context about the culture where the main event happens and the reasoning of the people there. By the end of this movie you kinda want to see more of everything, or maybe a prequel or sequel. The whole thing is outstanding, it felt like Akira tbh.
Just goes to show that it takes more than one person to meld all of the elements into a cohesive piece of storytelling. And Gareth Edwards is not there yet. For character and empathy-building inspiration, I point to Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special (2016).
Have to agree. Saw it last night. Bored. Beaten over the head with another message. Like "Dances with Avatars" to "Why can't we peacefully co-exist as North Vietnamese Ai buddists". It's not Art. And far from "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream".
I agree that it’s not the best script, very black and white, good vs evil, but from the storyline part I appreciate how simple yet brutal criticism of USA’s war on terror this is. It’s not subtle, not one bit, but in its straightforwardness it’s strong and impossible to be interpreted differently. That’s something in a blockbuster movie in these times. I would love to see some niuanse in the characters, some good Americans and some bad AIs, and some more depth in tone, but overall it’s interesting, beautifully made, simple-message movie that stands out in the pool of mediocre super-productions.
The Creator is an ... interesting movie. I saw a lot of Robert Kurzeil's The Spiritual Machines in it, but the execution was as accomplished as, say, Ex Machina, which presented an empathetic and entertaining view of AI machines.
Gareth Edwards is a good VFX artist. He clearly dedicated to his craft, but he's no storyteller. Even when working with competent actors and writers (Chris Weitz is a little hit and miss, but capable), he just doesn't have the directing chops.
Similar problems apply to many "successful" author/directors nowadays. They have one aspect of film making they are good at, but fail at creating a whole piece of moving picture. Neill Blomkamp has a good sense for action directing and VFX, but his films lack character development. Christopher Nolan has a good sense for plot construction but lacks in scene execution and cannot write characters for shit. Zack Snyder has a good sense for single poster shots but does not know how to tell a story at all, and he cannot direct a single scene built on character relations instead of content- & context-free aesthetics & kinetics, so he goes for slomo instead of suspense whenever he needs to break the dire monotony of undermotivated stuff happening and captured randomly at normal speed. It baffles me how these one-trick ponies are being lauded as creative geniuses. It is almost as if an entire generation of fans has never experienced watching good movies to compare their works to and to establish some standards.
@@elevenseven-yq4vu Exactly - auteurs are extremely rare. Good directors know when to hand off cinematography, scriptwriting, etc. Movies are a team effort. You can still be a visionary by simply being a good leader (I'm thinking someone like Villeneuve or Lynch). You don't literally have to do everything yourself.
It's his 4th movie. Not many could say that their second directed movie was a blockbuster with 160 million dollar as a budget. You're right he is not the best storyteller. He knows how to write worldbuilding, like in his first film Monsters. I hope he keeps working on it.
@@fillezzo I don't blame him for taking the Star Wars gig - who wouldn't? The fact that someone so inexperienced didn't completely fumble it is a miracle. Very respectable - but it was still an average movie. But I agree that he still has tons of potential. I just hope this movie breaks even...
@@_uncredited well actually Godzilla was his second movie, first big budget movie. Then it was Rouge one. But yeah I hope this those well, I'm probably going to see it. He has potential, maybe it will take a few tries before he gets there.
Terrific review, as always Maggie, thank you. I’ve only seen one movie in the cinema so far this year, and I was considering The Creator as being number two, I like Washington, I love Janney (she was the real selling point, especially as she rarely steps up) and I’ve heard the young girl who plays the AI is particularly good too. The trailers had that slick Villeneuve sheen and the conceit is very zeitgeist…but there was a sense at the back of my mind that once I came out from the viewing I’d be left disconcertingly disappointed…and your review absolutely confirmed that. I’ll save it for a rainy day Stream one of these days. Thank you for your forthright honesty and ability to cut through the BS and just tell it like it is.
I saw the trailer. Ironically, it looks as though an Ai just grabbed all the movies that we've already seen and squashed them all together into a feature film. I've seen this all before. Many of us know what it is to be a father. To have a sensitivity to "the chosen child", and we also know about explosions (would rather we didn't have to always have that as a backdrop but human conflict is as limited and flimsy in reality, so I guess... it's just another human war that we have to look at) and also, we know people with guns. See point 2. So much hype over a lack of story, and a vision that is sensationalistic to the point that it patronises the ability to capture anything new or worth while.
@@scienceisforsale2834 2015 was peak good good film making, no agendas, no heartthrob casting, no politics , no toxic fandom...its all gone downhill since
I completely agree. The reliance on cliches is sickening to me. Tropes and all are not needed. And the worst part is this Washington actor. He is the worst. He has zero personality and should not be hired to appear in anything.
he is there because his father is denzel,although i haven't seen him in anything,so i cant judge,i have long suspected that he got this big role for the wrong reason.I will go and see it and see what i see.
Oh damn! I was looking forward to this one (still am tbh) ... but as someone also really not liking Rogue One (for the same reasons you mentioned), i lost some hope right now.
So I just got finished watching it. I feel like the movie went on about 30 minutes too long. I wish it had ended in the Buddhist temple with the robot monks (film's secret aesthetic power: juxtaposing visual authenticity with smooth technology). The little girl's acting blew me away in this scene and in the final minutes. I saw her character as metaphorically representing our search for love in a war weary world. This search was primarily the protagonist's, but in a war torn world filled with beings struggling against their fate, the theme felt well embedded throughout. That is until the 'weapon' was weaponized and used to destroy lots of innocent Americans just doing their job aboard the floating nuke launcher. Haha, just kidding. But that's where the film lost me emotionally. The action gets confused and the protagonist is ordering the little girl around, telling her 'do this and do that'. I just didn't care if he was hanging off a nuke and close to being fired off into space. The heart of the film lay in his begrudging love for little girl, right? So asking me to care about his fate is a bit much, right? Asking me to care about his sacrifice, now that makes more sense. And the film eventually got there. And I cried, and it was good. 8/10. Everyone who enjoys original sci-fi should watch it. I can see why you have issues with Gareth Edwards' direction. If the cuts had been prolonged, the film might have held more tension, especially with such powerful visuals. But that's a rhythm kinda thing and relatively minor in my estimation. Like I said, that theme, search for love in a cruel world, it carried me right along. Also, the final cut might not have been his. Right now he reminds me more of James Cameron than anyone else. More heart though.
So much of what you say of "The Creator" reminds me of my experience when watching "Oppenheimer" (especially the lack of real characters), so I will pass on this.
I think Chris Gore had the best point about why modern movies suck. Back in the day filmmakers took inspiration from everything - art,literature ,poetry, philosophy etc...Modern directors of today- all their references and inspirations are just older films. So a lot of movies today just seem like empty copycats of previous films we all know. Point in case was the new Batman film that just seemed to be nothing more but a Se7en knockoff. Or the Force Awakens trying to be a point-for-point remake of the OG Star Wars instead of its own thing. This film i guess is trying to be like a mix between Blade Runner and Akira? There is very little originality these days in modern filmmaking unfortunately because a lot of directors seem to be just film fans trying to re-create their favourite movies instead of trying to say something interesting and original.
Dialogues written by GPT 3 and casting done by mom. Soundtrack is atrociously average. I have to give the director of photography creds as he developed beautiful style and mood.
Just watched it. Yeah, pretty lame. Looks good though. They would've been much better off keeping the world they created and telling a more plausible, grounded, less "epic" story.
The movie seems pretentious to me. It’s pretending to be about something without putting in the work. I don’t care if it doesn’t understand the classics as much as I care if it understands the topic. I kinda wanna see it though and hope it does well.
Even though The Creator was incredibly derivative, I quite enjoyed the first two acts of the film. But then the last 20 minutes turns into the most cheesiest elements of a Spielberg film ever.
This movie frustrated me to the point where I think it’s one of the worst movies of the year and what makes it so frustrating is that it’s beautiful to look at but there’s no story to back up the look at the film
Saw it this afternoon. Disappointing. I loved the art direction; the fx are gorgeous. That being said: I’ve seen every single story beat before and found it not the least bit engaging on any level, other than aesthetically. Also, the idea of Asia becoming a united, peace-loving collective - but America is a standalone imperial oppressor - is a tad insulting and colossally stupid.
I watched this this evening and thought the story was shit. It looked stunning but the story is brain dead and so full of plot-holes it’s ridiculous. I could write a long list of stuff, but I can’t be bothered to waste anymore time on this turkey, I already wasted a tenner on my cinema ticket
