🍿77: The Creator
This week: A nod to Leo DaVinci and the secret sounds behind Jurassic Park 🦖
“One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction.”
~ Ex Machina, 2014
Creators and inventors…
This week’s feature film might be The Creator, but before we dive into that, let's sidetrack a moment…
Picture a world where indie films not only capture our hearts but also manage to make groundbreaking strides in the world of cinema. Enter The Inventor, a new film based on the life of Leonardo DaVinci, starring Stephen Fry, Marion Cotillard and Matt Berry.
We’re not looking to draw a parallel between history’s most famous inventor and the wizardry of modern AI (though it’s hard to resist). Instead, we want to highlight The Inventor’s grand debut in 700 cinemas nationwide, which is not only a remarkable achievement but sets a precedent for indie-animated films.
Why are we talking about this film, you ask? Well, one of the producers reached out asking us to plug their film — and who are we to deny such a humble request?
Here’s the trailer:
Now for the headlines:
The London Film Festival opened with Emerald Fennel’s Saltburn last night and is set to close with Daniel Kaluyah’s directorial debut The Kitchen. Read more.
The OcenGate submarine disaster, which resulted in the deaths of five people, is to be made into a film. Read more.
Release dates have been announced for the upcoming documentary Cassius X: Becoming Ali. Read more.
And finally, Barry Keoghan said he spent just $10 on props for the DIY audition tape he made for the Riddler role in Matt Reeves’s The Batman. Read more.
Upcoming Releases
All Of Us Strangers
UK: 26 January // USA: 22 December
A screenwriter (Andrew Scott) drawn back to his childhood home enters a fledgling relationship with a mysterious neighbour (Paul Mescal) as he then discovers his parents appear to be living just as they were on the day they died, 30 years before.
Leave The World Behind
UK: 8 December // USA: 8 December
A family’s vacation is upended when two strangers arrive at night, seeking refuge from a cyberattack that grows more terrifying by the minute, forcing everyone to come to terms with their places in a collapsing world.
Fact of the week
Speaking of creators, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) may have been crazy enough to bring dinosaurs back to life, but who created the dinosaur sounds? Enter Gary Rydstrom, the Oscar-winning sound designer who combined the cry of a baby elephant with an alligator’s growl and a tiger’s snarl to create the iconic T-Rex roar.
Almost all the dinosaur sounds used in Jurassic Park were amalgamations of different animal noises. The sounds of the velociraptors were made by mixing the sounds of tortoises mating, a horse breathing and the hiss of a goose.
Review: The Creator
Star rating:
2.5 (out of 5)
Where to watch:
USA: Only in cinemas
UK: Only in cinemas
Runtime:
2hr 13m
Director:
Gareth Edwards
Blurb:
Against the backdrop of a war between humans and robots with artificial intelligence, former soldier Josuar (John David Washington) finds the secret weapon, a robot in the form of a young child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles).
The review (NO spoilers):
Set in the year 2065, the beginning of The Creator shows promise. There’s a blend of incredible visual effects, music and cinematography that give all the early indications of a good film. However, the visuals — which are stunning throughout — do not make up for the frail plot or rushed storytelling.
Sadly, The Creator’s strong start is short-lived as it becomes clear that more thought went into aesthetics than sustenance. What remains is a poorly-paced story that struggles to create an emotional connection between its characters and the audience.
Even though both John David Washington and Madeleine Yuna Voyles deliver decent performances — especially Voyles who was just seven years old during production — not enough time is given to exploring their relationship. And because everything is so rushed, the chemistry they may have shared is missed completely.
But this isn’t the only problem with the story. To avoid spoilers, let’s just say that the holes in the heads of the robots (or rather, ‘simulants’) pale in comparison to the holes in the plot. Joshua (John David Washington) and Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) jump from place to place with little explanation of how they got there, or past the enemies that were supposedly blocking their path.
While a weak story may be one thing, when a modern sci-fi can’t even muster any decent action then it’s a bigger problem. There are no car chases, no hand-to-hand combat, just futuristic guns shot by people with bad aim — a flaw that somehow even the robots share. But it’s not just a lack of variety in the type of action shown, there’s an overall lack of innovation about how it’s executed.
In its two-hour-plus runtime, there aren’t any memorable action scenes, because every fight sequence consists of duck and cover shoot-outs, and enough explosions to give Michael Bay a run for his money. Every few minutes, something is getting blown up, which ultimately undermines the effect of a ‘great’ explosion. It’s like overplaying a great song, eventually, they lose their impact. The problem is that when everything feels so climactic, the ultimate climax feels flat.
So, while The Creator may boast excellent — and I mean excellent — visual effects and some stunning cinematography, that’s all it has going for it. If the visuals are all you’re interested in, then it might still be worth a watch. But if narrative is as important for you as it is for us, you might be better off seeing something else this weekend.
Scroll down to see what’s in the next issue.
If you liked The Creator…
Blade Runner 2049
2017 | UK: Amazon Prime (£3.49) // USA: HBO Max / Amazon Prime ($3.99)
Any sci-fi fan worth their salt will have seen Blade Runner 2049 already, and we’d say you’re better off watching it again than wasting your time with The Creator.
Set thirty years after the events of the first film, LAPD Officer K (Ryan Gosling), unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what’s left of society into chaos.
If you fancy something different that still focuses on the battle between humanity and AI, and maybe one to watch with your kids, then you can’t go wrong with The Mitchells vs. The Machines.
In the next issue:
Fair Play
UK: 6 October // USA: 6 October | Watch the Trailer
