Editor’s Note: The following contains The Creator spoilers.
The Big Picture
- The Creator is an original and thought-provoking film that explores the war between artificial intelligence and humanity through the perspective of soldier Joshua.
- The film takes a surprising twist when the weapon called Alpha-01 turns out to be a synthetic being in the form of a young girl named Alphie, created by Joshua’s wife Maya.
- The ending of The Creator is poignant and bittersweet, with Joshua sacrificing his own life to stop the destruction caused by artificial intelligence and finding a sense of closure and redemption in his final moments.
The Creator is a film you have to watch for a multitude of reasons. It’s an intriguing look at the old science fiction trope of artificial intelligence posing a threat to mankind; this time, the subject is given far much more nuance as well as time to explore the machine’s side of the story. It marks a return to form for Gareth Edwards, who previously made his mark on the blockbuster landscape with 2014’s Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – now crafting an original story with a budget you might expect from an indie movie and not a sprawling science fiction epic. It’s an original story in a Hollywood that’s used intellectual properties as both a foundation and a crutch, and its success could open the doors for similar fare on the silver screen. But how does The Creator end?
The Creator
As a future war between the human race and artificial intelligence rages on, ex-special forces agent Joshua is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI. The Creator has developed a mysterious weapon that has the power to end the war and all of mankind. As Joshua and his team of elite operatives venture into enemy-occupied territory, they soon discover the world-ending weapon is actually an AI in the form of a young child.
- Release Date
- September 29, 2023
- Director
- Gareth Edwards
- Cast
- Ralph Ineson, Allison Janney, Gemma Chan, John David Washington, Ken Watanabe
- Rating
- PG-13
- Genres
- Action, Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
Above all else, The Creator is an entertaining and rather stirring film that explores the fallout of a war between artificial intelligence and humanity through the eyes of soldier Joshua (John David Washington). Joshua is roped back into action when the military discovers that the artificial intelligence called “Nirmata” – aka “The Creator” – has developed a weapon called “Alpha-01” that could tip the tide in the machines’ favor. Joshua elects to go on the mission to destroy Alpha-01 when he learns that he may see his wife Maya (Gemma Chan) again; Maya was presumed dead during the U.S. military’s first attempt to take Nirmata out. When his squadron breaks into New Asia, the haven for all machines, Joshua learns that Alpha-01 is not a weapon; it is a synthetic being that has taken the form of a young girl (Madeleine Yuna Voyles). Joshua and Alpha-01, now going by the nickname “Alphie”, go on the hunt to find Maya – with humans and machines in hot pursuit of them both.
Who Created Alphie in ‘The Creator’?
While on the run, Joshua and Alphie contact Joshua’s friend and fellow soldier Drew (Sturgill Simpson), who is currently residing in New Asia. Drew reveals two massive pieces of information, chief among them the fact that Alphie is designed to grow like any other human being would. He also reveals that Maya is the creative force behind Nirmata, which is a massive shock for Joshua. Flashbacks throughout the film reveal that Joshua was a sleeper agent meant to get close to Maya and learn about Nirmata’s relationship so that he could terminate it, but in the process, he fell in love with her and even fathered a child with her.
Joshua and Alphie end up being escorted to a machine sanctuary by Harun (Ken Watanabe), an AI revolutionary who raised Maya when her parents were killed in the AI/human war. There they find out that Maya is barely alive; Joshua also learns that she based Alphie on their unborn child. Military forces storm the sanctuary, leaving Joshua no choice but to terminate Maya’s life support in one of many heart-wrenching scenes sprinkled throughout The Creator. Up to this point, he’d merely thought that machines were a menace to all humanity – but learning about the role his wife played as Nirmata, as well as the time he’s spent with Alphie, convinces him that he has to end the war by any means necessary.
How Does ‘The Creator’ End?
In order to stop the rest of the AI sanctuaries from being destroyed, Joshua and Alphie hijack a space shuttle and fly to NOMAD – the massive orbital weapons system that the military has used to conduct airstrikes on AI strongholds. Alphie uses her electromagnetic powers to stop NOMAD from firing its missiles, while Joshua attaches explosives to one of the warheads set to detonate. However, Alphie discovers a number of synthetics onboard NOMAD, with one of them bearing a striking resemblance to Maya. Using a scan of Maya’s brain that was performed prior to her death, Alphie boots up the synthetic and attempts to drag it to the shuttle, but she fails.
Joshua manages to get Alphie into one of NOMAD’s escape pods and launches it, all the while struggling from a lack of oxygen due to his having to blow the shuttle’s airlock to stop NOMAD’s armed forces from killing her. The pod launches just as the bombs go off, destroying NOMAD and Joshua along with it. But Joshua manages to secure a moment of peace before his fiery end. While racing through NOMAD, he encounters the Maya-synth and kisses her just as the station explodes. Even though it’s wires and steel instead of blood and flesh, it still contains her essence – her soul – meaning that his quest to reunite with her wasn’t in vain.
The Creator‘s ending also brings its story together in a rather heartbreaking way. Early in the film, Joshua and Alphie discuss the nature of heaven. “Are you going to heaven?” Alphie asks. Joshua replies that he won’t because you have to be a good person to go to heaven. Before launching Alphie’s pod, he tells her that he’s going to heaven – in effect absolving himself of the guilt that’s plagued him. The sanctuary where they find Maya is also referred to as Tiāntáng – which translated into English means “heaven.”
How Is ‘The Creator’s Ending Similar to Gareth Edwards’ Other Films?
The Creator marks a growing theme in Gareth Edwards’ films: that of self-sacrifice, where the protagonist will often end up losing their life to make sure others can live theirs. Godzilla features a scene where Ford Brody (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) must detonate a nuclear warhead, even though there’s a good chance he won’t survive. Rogue One killed off its entire cast of Rebels as they fought to get the Death Star plans. The Creator ending in a similar way gives it the kind of weight that usually isn’t seen in blockbuster films, where the protagonist is often designed to be as invulnerable as possible. It’s a refreshing change of pace and lends the film a certain gravity that some of the best science fiction films (including the ones that inspired it) often have.
The Creator is now available to purchase on VOD in the U.S.
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