With the impending release of The Creator, contributes Julian Lytle and William Goodman sat down and had a written conversational review about writer/director Gareth Edwards’ new sci-fi epic.
William Goodman: When did we last get excited about an original sci-fi project? Outside of The Way of Water last year, I’m hard-pressed to imagine a recent occasion. For as many IP sequels as we’re getting for Star Wars, Star Trek, or hell, even the aforementioned Avatar, wholly new concepts are few and far between, which is why I walked into The Creator with an inherent sense of anticipation. Here is Gareth Edwards (whose last project, funnily enough, was a Star Wars film) helming a brand new idea—for the first time since 2010’s Monsters. Previews showed an epic scale and a world that looks impressive. And, of course, there’s a new world to explore. Julian, what’s your experience with Edwards, and how did you feel about The Creator coming into it?
Julian Lytle: With Edwards, I’ve never seen his debut, but I am familiar with his two licensed efforts, 2014 Godzilla and Rogue One. I liked both, and I think he overcame the obstacles in working on both films with such history and strong fanbases. In regards to The Creator, I was mostly into it because of the visual aesthetics of the film in promotion. I never really checked who was writing or directing. If you make a film about robots and humans with Anime and/or Blade Runner, I’m seeing it.
WG: You name-check Blade Runner, which is interesting because I think there’s a bit of thematic overlap. The Creator’s plot functions like this: In the near future, artificial intelligence develops to the point where robots can fully take over jobs from humanity. A cleverly staged, black-and-white newsreel-style opening lays out the stakes: As AI develops, it becomes too dangerous, resulting in humanity going to war against it. For reasons better left discovered in the film, the United States spearheads most of the campaign and has sent special agent Joshua (John David Washington) to see if he can figure out AI’s next move. As he dives deeper, he crosses paths with a young girl named Alfie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles in her debut role), who may be the key to ending the war.
Like Blade Runner, The Creator uses its sci-fi setup to ask, interrogate, and answer big questions about humanity and its nature. But that extends to its incredibly lush production design, too. The reported budget for the film clocks in around $80 million, but it easily costs double that. As Joshua trots the globe with Alife, Edwards spends considerable time showing you this world and how breathtaking it all is. That’s easily the thing that left the biggest impression on me. What about you? What stood out to you?
JL: Yeah, well, I personally believe that most modern movies about Robot/AI are all about slavery and dealing with a battle between society, especially a capitalist one, and its need for a slave class. If you don’t see Artificial Intelligence as a life or “real,” then it’s easier to treat it the way versus other humans. It’s a line of thinking that exists in our reality, but exploring and extrapolating it in these cyberpunk science fiction stories is great. From the Blade Runner franchise through The Matrix to something like Mega Man, it’s all there in the background, even if you’ve never noticed it. This, of course, also continues this idea, to me, even more literal than many other stories.
The film’s visual look and its choice to show more than tell really grabbed me. The technological design and selection of where most of the story takes place in the world felt familiar to me as an anime watcher. The film wears this influence on its sleeve, and it’s entirely in my wheelhouse with its use of not just any Anime but peak mid-’80s to early 90s Anime in terms of design language, shot selection, and color palette. I read that they sent people out to shoot footage from around Southeast Asia and then designed the look of things around those shots, and I find that a creative way of doing things is an intelligent way of using your budget smartly. As you said, the film looks double of what it cost and is one of the best-looking films I’ve seen this year, and that was even seeing it through a blurry IMAX projection.
WG: Whoof, yeah. The screening we saw wasn’t nearly as well optimized as it could or should have been—and nevertheless—it still managed to awe me visually. Your point about the overall storytelling is apt and is where The Creator works. But, for me, how it’s presented is less effective. I felt the globe-trotting adventure moved a little too quickly. It’s a double-edged sword; by moving around from location to location, we’re immersed in this world, with every new locale providing some new contextual showing about how different things are here and now. And yet, that propulsive nature made it a little tricky for me to hold onto the actual moment-to-moment beats that were glossed over too quickly. That makes it a little more difficult for me to care too much about all the supporting characters around Joshua and Alfie. There’s an inspired Allison Janney performance here (she plays a gruff General), but only because she’s punching well above the source material she’s provided. I wish the movie had about 30 minutes longer to give some of the characters in Joshua’s orbit more time to breathe. But I think you had a different reaction to that, yeah?
JL: As for me, the storytelling choices in how it’s paced and choosing what to handle with dialogue and action in the script versus the setting and the performances for me give me all I need in this story. Not only do I like wanting a bit, but I also like having my imagination spinning backstory and what the characters might or might not do. That being said, I know for sure I am in the minority here. I personally feel this film is so much my type of frequency that I worry it won’t do well. Not only is it a hard Sci-Fi film, but it also does things structurally that are off-center. It has the vibes of older anime, as I said, and back then, you ain’t never know what was going on, and it was also kind of sad. This is perfect for me because you had to learn a different culture’s storytelling language. I feel many others will have those same problems you had with it pacing-wise and character-wise, but for me, it’s all gucci.
WG: Performance-wise, though, I think we can agree that Washington is bringing the goods here. Tenet proved he could command the screen, and he’s two for two in sci-fi genre stories. Some moments work much better than they should off the strength of what he does; his relationship with Alfie is excellent. The tried and true Lone Wolf and Cub trope is trotted out again here, but Washington makes it feel effortless—and, in places—fresh. There’s a real tangible tenderness to how he plays his moments with Voyles that exudes well beyond the screen.
I also want to flag Edwards and his use of scope and scale. He’s honed his craft in this regard, especially in Godzilla and Rogue One, but there’s one sequence in particular around the middle of the movie that is a clear leveling up of his talent. I don’t want to spoil too much because of its effectiveness. You’ll know it when you see it. Does anything else stand out to you that we haven’t talked about?
JL: Yes, the Sci-Fi The Golden Child, the other easy similar thing that smacks you in the face when you see Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles on the screen walking the earth in these amazing atmospheric visuals Edwards crafts with Cinematographers and Visual Effects folks. As you said, he has leveled up in terms of his skill with these huge set pieces. The build-up of tension in the last act to the climax is so very strong here; the performances are all top-notch, and the building of tension throughout it was so well done. I know I’m buying that future Best Buy 4K UHD SteelBook – I just need the pre-order link already.
WG: If nothing else, The Creator further cements Edwards as one of our great technical masters and John David Washington as an outstanding young talent. Even if the rest of the film doesn’t come together quite as tightly as I’d want or hope, there’s plenty to lose yourself in as Edwards, well, creates this brand new world. My wish is that it’s successful enough for him to do another original project—or inspire others to realize what kind of new worlds they can create themselves if given the chance.
