REVIEW:
A whole lot has been made about how the Creator represents one of the last original movies made as a big budget action flick on a large scale. These movies just aren’t made anymore, and if they are, they are made by streaming services and never play in theaters (like Red Notice or Extraction for Netflix.) The big budget action movies that do play in theaters are all bases on existing IP, whether that means they are sequels, prequels, or remakes. And that brings us to the movie itself, the Creator, directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One.)
Edwards has never been a great director. Even his movie Monsters, which was the movie that won him the attention of the studios and got them to give him much bigger, more main stream projects, was just okay. And The Creator is no different. It’s an okay movie. The action and visuals are terrific, but the story isn’t. It’s about a man who hunts robots and is specifically trying to find a secret robot weapon that can destroy the human weapon which was designed to destroy all robots. Sounds kind of complicated and convoluted, right? It is.
The robots are cool. The laser gun shots are cool. But the story is incredibly lame. Now, the one positive story-wise, is that there is an actual clear cut villain. It’s a villain, played by Allison Janey. This is perfect. A recognizable actress. A very talented and proven actress (unlike our protagonist, played by John David Washington, who has yet to be in a very good movie or proven himself.) Only problem is, the Allison Janney villain is taken out of the movie way to early, and we are left with nothing in her place. This is a movie that looks and feels fantastic, until you realize that there is very little story or substance. It’s also a movie that is way too long and would have benefited from cutting out thirty minutes.