‘The Creator’ – AI Battles Humans for Survival in Sci-Fi Epic from ‘Rogue One’ Director
Artificial intelligence goes to war with humanity in The Creator – Rogue One director Gareth Edwards’ new original sci-fi epic.
At the start of the year, I hoped that we’d get more original sci-fi. That hope has panned out. The Creator is from Rogue One director Gareth Edwards. It takes place in a world destroyed by artificial intelligence designed to protect humanity and goes to war with the human race instead. Humans strive to destroy all AI in order to survive and take the planet back.
A soldier goes on a special mission to destroy the most dangerous weapon created by the architect of the enemy AI. That weapon comes in a form that no one expects.
The Theme of Artificial Intelligence
AI and machines turning on their makers isn’t exactly new in science fiction. The idea has become more relevant with the popularity of AI models like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Synthesia. The use of AI has become a hot topic across industries and one of the main issues behind the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes – its potential is a threat to jobs once only filled by humans. That fear is real and this new movie plays on it.
The Creator takes inspiration from some great stories (created by humans) and several classic sci-fi stories, as well. The first one that comes to mind is the massive fallout caused by Skynet in the Terminator franchise. The movie looks to fit in with other AI gone wrong tales like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Dune, and Foundation. Systems built to save us, but end up being our undoing. Systems that make us question what sentience is.
But it doesn’t go into Bladerunner territory. Director Gareth Edwards told Total Film:
In our movie, all the AI is very clear. You know who is AI and who isn’t. There are no tricks, like a revelation that someone actually turns out to be AI. It’s not that kind of film. You know straight away when someone is or isn’t, and it’s mainly through the mech, and the hole in the side [points to temple], through the head. I wanted it to feel like the classic “evolution of man” image, from ape to Neanderthal to homo sapiens. So, I wanted the evolution of robotics to go from quite boxy – you know, Sony Walkman-style – all the way up to, with the exception of the mech, completely human-looking.
At the start of the year I wished for more non-franchise sci-fi – I’m getting it. I can’t wait to see this on the big screen.
The Creator Cast & Details
The Creator is writer/director Gareth Edwards (Rogue One); he’s brought on Rogue One and Dune Greig Fraser as cinematographer (and it shows). It stars John David Washington (Tenet), Gemma Chan (Crazy Rich Asians), Ken Watanabe (Letters From Iwo Jima), Allison Janney (I, Tonya), Sturgill Simpson (Queen & Slim), and newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles.
An epic sci-fi action thriller set amidst a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence. Joshua, a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war… and mankind itself. Joshua and his team of elite operatives journey across enemy lines, into the dark heart of AI-occupied territory… only to discover the world-ending weapon he’s been instructed to destroy is an AI in the form of a young child.
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The Creator arrives in theaters on September 29th.
