The Creator may be the first AI film released since artificial intelligence began to take meaningful shape in society. Numerous profound questions and scenarios have been raised by political, tech, and philosophical thought leaders regarding this topic, so we are well primed for Gareth Edwards and his team to present their perspective on this emerging technology, which is brimming with potential for creativity and reflection.

An intriguing premise indeed set; A world where AI is fully established, with different competing West vs East ideologies and politics clashing on how this intelligence should be integrated and regarded by society. Unfortunately, this is as interesting as the story gets, which sadly is a thin and generic mess, riddled with plot holes, contrivances, and ex-machina moments that all strive to propel the plot toward a false mystery and twist that can be seen coming a mile away.

We’ve seen this 'man reluctantly escorts young child he soon learns to love' narrative many times before, leading to great films and shows such as Léon: The Professional, Children of Men, Logan, and the recent The Last of Us. It can make for great storytelling, often rich with interesting and meaningful character development, that typically comes with a significant emotional payoff at the end. In the case of The Creator, the character development is largely superficial, exacerbated by poor dialogue and monotonous, emotionless acting from John David Washington. Some positives can be found in child actors Madeleine Yuna Voyles role as Alphie.

The relationship between these two felt entirely forced. No connection is established to justify the tender life-and-death moment we were expected to feel touched by, and even Joshua's relationship with his wife Maya lacked depth, repeatedly showcasing the same wistful beach scene and name screaming as they tried to establish a motivation we never cared about (which also by the way made little sense when scrutinized)

You would expect that with such limited time devoted to character development, the sci-fi world-building and underlying themes would be significantly stronger too. While there are moments of originality, such as the memory recapture technology and specialized AI designed for specific needs, much of the execution feels predictable. The AIs are intended to be relatable, and their deaths are meant to be tragic, but they never are, plus their competency is often alarmingly poor. I’ve seen Mario Kart AI with greater intelligence and accuracy than the policebots in this movie, whose sole purpose of being is surely to be able to hit a target.