It's been awhile since a new science fiction film captured my interest like Gareth Edwards' The Creator. Some film genres have been thriving in recent years, but I would argue that science fiction hasn't had the best representation over the last 5 years. In the greater film industry, I am particularly thinking of recent successes in psychological thrillers from Robert Eggers and the American + independent studio A24, horror movies from the minds of Jordan Peele, Ari Aster, and Ti West, and superhero movies like The Batman and various Marvel-Cinematic-Universe movies.
The State of Science Fiction Movies in the Last 5 Years
Since 2019, representing the science fiction genre, a handful of good movies include:
- Alita: Battle Angel: a solid adaptation of the beloved Japanese manga series from Robert Rodriguez and Steven Spielberg. It boasted stunning special effects and motion capture, some great action scenes, and breathtaking landscapes.
- Ad Astra: a slower-paced but beautiful space exploration film from director James Gray starring Brad Pitt. Ad Astra explores mature themes such as grief, loss, and the meaning of life behind intense acting performances in a high-stakes story.
- Dune: An impressive and ambitious adaptation of Frank Herbert's sci-fi epic. 2021's Dune manages to stay faithful to the source material without compromising on the vast scale, complex characters, or thought-provoking themes.
- Tenet: A confusing but complex and action-packed movie by film legend, Christopher Nolan. Tenet plays all its cards on the inventive reality afforded by the complicated sci-fi concept of the time-bending Sator Square. Like many Nolan films, multiple viewings are all but required to wrap your head around the mind-bending science fiction present.
- Avatar: The Way of Water: The big-budget blockbuster from James Cameron that has grossed over $1.5 billion worldwide as of October, 2023. Whether or not you can get behind Pandora's alien blue beings, Avatar: The Way of Water is the result of unprecedented dedication, cutting-edge technology, and high-quality filmmaking.
While there are some other good recent sci-film films I did not list above, science fiction feels like a genre that not enough film studios want to take on these days. It is an expensive genre that requires risk and innovation, terms that Hollywood isn't particularly fond of. Science fiction movies are visually-stunning and innovative films that can explore complex themes and ideas in a way that other genres cannot.
Original IP is another thing that I can appreciate hugely. It requires passion, determination, and hard work to create an interesting new world, and to deliver on a set with great visuals, performances, screenwriting, and cinematography, among other things. The Creator does just that. It is a great modern sci-fi movie that tells a fresh and original, action-packed story.
Summary of The Creator
The Creator is a 2023 American epic science fiction action thriller film produced and directed by Gareth Edwards, who co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Weitz. The film stars John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Allison Janney, and Madeleine Yuna Voyles (in her film debut).
Set in 2070, 15 years after a nuclear detonation in Los Angeles and a war against artificial intelligence, an ex-special forces agent is recruited to hunt down and kill the "Creator," who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war. Joshua and his team travel into enemy-occupied territory to find the Creator, but they soon discover that the weapon is actually an AI in the form of a young child. Joshua must now decide whether to follow his orders and kill the child, or to protect it and prevent the war from escalating.
In the film, New Asia is described as a "technocratic paradise" where humans and AI live together in harmony. The war in The Creator is taking place between the west and east, aka New Asia. New Asia is located in Southeast Asia, and its territory includes Thailand, Vietnam, and Laos. It is a contrast to the rest of the world in The Creator, which is depicted as a war-torn wasteland. New Asia is a haven of peace and prosperity, and its citizens enjoy a high standard of living. However, the film also suggests that New Asia is not perfect. The government is authoritarian, and the people are constantly monitored by surveillance cameras.
The film was released in the United States on September 29, 2023, by 20th Century Studios. It has grossed $90 million on a budget of $80 million, and received generally positive reviews from critics.
The Imaginative World of The Creator
In terms of setting, southeast Asia lends such a fresh palette of culture, color palette, and landscapes to The Creator. If the backdrop of the film was something like a ‘future NYC', or even a ‘future Japan', I think some of the magic would have been lost. Many scenes lean on the environment to secrete smaller-scale, intimate storytelling as Joshua travels across New Asia in search of his late wife, Maya.
The characters and and props were designed with especial care to avoid any uncanniness while looking fresh, realistic, and functional. Edwards mentioned that the team took inspiration from old Sony gadgets for some of the tech designs, Gundam mechs for some larger automotive designs, and several iconic robot designs for the Simulant designs, including The Terminator.
What Can We Learn From The Creator?
Two things: The first relates to fresh filmmaking, and how it can be both sustainable for studios and refreshing for fans. The second is about the story, and some bigger ideas moving forward as we continue to deepen our co-existence with technology and AI.
Small Team = Big Opportunities
First, there's something special about producing an original film with a relatively small and nimble team; being willing to shoot on-site and paint VFX in post (as opposed to an alternative pipeline of building stages with green-screens to perfectly capture a specific vision) can result in wonderfully immersive scenes that feel grounded and full-of-life. Thailand, Cambodia, and Nepal were some key countries where the movie was filmed, and Edwards and the DP, Oren Soffer, were able to film where they saw most fit with an often full 360°, requiring crew to hide behind walls or hills.
A similar approach was taken for many sequences involving crowds. Many of these sequences used all or majority humans, instead of actors in suits or green-screen costumes. The team would watch the sequences back and take notice of what caught their eyes, and have certain humans replaced with robots. This sort of retro-active directing let Edwards and the team make decisions they would not have been able to predict or calculate ahead of time.
Not to mention, The Creator was filmed entirely on a Sony FX3, a $4000, hyper-light sensitive light-weight camera on a gimbal. DP Oren Soffer admires the contrast and lighting from Ridley Scott's ‘Alien', and wanted to aim for a similar atmosphere that required little synthetic lighting. Advancements in VFX technology also greatly cut costs and made editing more efficient than it had been in the past. With all this being said, it's a great time to be making movies as a small team or even as an individual making short-films!
Image by 20th Century Studios, via Bleeding Cool
How Can We Imagine the World in 30+ Years?
Envisioning what the future COULD look like in the future is something that makes sci-fi so great; something like Black Mirror imagines what could be if technology worked it's way into the everyday lives of citizens just a little bit more, and a little bit more, until it is so invasive and controlling that these technologies are clearly working against the benefit of the general population, rather than in support of it. The Creator has something to say about tensions between the east and the west, specifically global superpowers like The United States and China, and the race of AI + AGI, and the global reach that a nation could attain via these technologies. The plot of The Creator takes an interesting stance on this: one where The United States is threatened by the east (New Asia, in the film) on a shaky basis that ‘justifies' their aggression in suppressing their power. Without getting too political or technocratic, The Creator does a good job of showing New Asia (the majority of the film takes place here) living in harmony with their AI, or simulants. A fascinating perspective is taken with the Simulants in which, like humans, artificial intelligences didn't choose for themselves to come into existence. How should / would these simulants behave in this world? How should people treat them? Is it possible that these simulants can be MORE compassionate and helpful than humans, and if so, what does that mean for their place in society and the world more broadly?
The Creator proposes some wonderful big-picture questions about our future and how much AI systems or beings will play a part in it.
Image by 20th Century Studios, via GeekWire
A Perfect Storm
In closing, The Creator is a wonderful sci-fi film that boats an engaging, if slightly generic, plot about technology and geopolitics in a beautifully lush and diverse setting of southeast Asia. The cinematography and VFX are absolutely state-of-the-art, and they beg for multiple viewings of the film. Personally, this film hit all the right notes for me; I just travelled to southeast Asia this summer and adored the whole experience, and I also love technology, futurism, and geopolitics. If you're anything like me, or just love yourself a good science fiction film, please check out The Creator.