The Creator

Directed by Gareth Edwards, The Creator follows a futuristic figure (John David Washington’s Joshua) as he attempts to protect a little girl from a variety of outside forces. Filmmaker Edwards, armed with his and Chris Weitz’s screenplay, admittedly does a terrific job of initially luring the viewer into the movie’s science-fiction landscape, as Edwards, along with cinematographers Greig Fraser and Oren Soffer, offers up a familiar yet striking atmosphere that does, at the outset, hold plenty of promise. It’s disappointing to note, then, that The Creator begins to fizzle out almost immediately, as the picture, beyond the novelty of its compelling visuals, contains virtually nothing to consistently sustain the viewer’s ongoing interest and attention – with the arms length atmosphere heightened by a central character that could hardly be less compelling or sympathetic (ie why is he even drawn to this girl and why is he going so far out of his way to save her?) The far-from-enthralling vibe is compounded by an episodic midsection that wreaks havoc on the movie’s forward momentum (ie it’s virtually non-existent), and although Edwards has peppered the padded-out narrative with a handful of engaging sequences (eg kamikaze robots), The Creator builds towards a seriously sluggish third act that has its moments but, like everything preceding it, drags to an almost astonishing degree – which ultimately cements the movie’s place as an ambitious misfire that should’ve topped out at 90 minutes.

** out of ****