REVIEW: THE CREATOR

4/5

Brave New Girl.

133 Mins. Starring: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, Sturgill Simpson, Marc Menchaca, Ralph Ineson, Introducing, Madeleine Yuna Voyles & Allison Janney. Director: Gareth Edwards. In: Theatres. 

How's this for some creative concept art? 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' director Gareth Edwards' ('Monsters', 'Godzilla'), 'The Creator' movie looks so much like an idea for a galaxy far, far away, there's even an Easter Egg in there somewhere for your cross pollination. But we'll never tell...as a matter of fact we couldn't. Blade running through what looks like a big budget with the classic and compelling cinematography of Greig Fraser ('Dune' parts one and two and 'Zero Dark Thirty'), this movie "only" dropped 80 mill. Trading the green screen for the postcards of real life locations across Asia for the New Asian continent you are given on-screen. The mechanics of this whirring like the hole behind the head of these machines made men. Light cameras bringing it all to life so much, you would think this story that gives artificial intelligence a human face was made by A.I. itself like when Jude Law used to change styles in a quick swipe like 'Minority Report' for another iconic Steven Spielberg sci-fi. Especially in a troubled and threatening time when these digital effects taking all our jobs (you've heard people say that before about something or someone they don't understand) have created controversy, Marvel TV titles like a 'Secret Invasion' and Hollywood strikes. This strikes so many deep chords, topical and emotional.

Rest assured, they're back like Schwarzenegger, but this ain't Skynet. Kudos to the fresh and original Edwards for giving us an epic that plays against type and offers us both sides of the coin that digital progress affords us in all its tinkering and nuance. Guerilla grounded in realism like a Neill Blomkamp 'District 9' world of 'Elysium', and speaking of android's dreams like the eclectic, electric sheep of 'Ex Machina' and 'I, Robot' that don't follow the herd over the fence of your worst dystopian nightmares, this modern great is another classic in the canon of a storied, but sometimes saturated science-fiction genre. This creation itself, in all its biblical like chapters and real world prophecy, is another fine example of how poetic this digital thread of a genre can be when it's coded and crafted into an art-form. The machines that go toe-to-steel toe cap with the humans and the vehicles they inhabit (check out the police crop dusting and circling back for humans) may not differ much from most movies and video games galore, but that just adds to the new wild west genre of this expanding universe. Especially as its storytelling stirs stronger pronged points like the 'Apocalypse Now' war like reflection of Vietnam in the bay and the explosive incendiary look at the fallout of atomic bomb blasts. Timely as it comes out this week in Japan, on the same day as Scorsese's latest with Leo and De Niro in 'Killers Of The Flower Moon', where Christopher Nolan's biggest movie of the year in scale, 'Oppenheimer' has yet to see a release date. Especially after the 'Barbie' controversy this summer that you can't forget.

Despite being a box-office bomb (it still made a million dollar profit, and change), 'The Creator' stands as one of the best films of the calendar and genre. Starring 'Tenet' and 'BlacKkKlansman' standout star John David Washington in the same month his dad Denzel plays the great 'Equalizer' for the third and trilogy concluding final(?) time (there may be some A.I. de-ageing). Washington is wonderful again at playing behind the scenes, even in a lead role, like some of the best-of-the-best of pop's contemporaries (Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves (if you're a regular reader, did you figure out the film Washington and Reeves appeared in together. Answers on a postcard please)). The same goes for the great Gemma Chan ('Humans', 'Eternals'), although their beach life postcard memories haunt like the digital photo albums of Cruise in 'Minority Report'. Strong support also comes from Sturgill Simpson, the booming vocal general of Ralph Ineson and 'Ozark's' Marc Menchaca who is always so good in everything he does, bringing more to the table with both feet (from 'Jack Ryan' to 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'). Whereas highlights come from 'Inception', 'The Last Samurai' and 'Tokyo Vice's' Ken Watanabe in android form and a closely cropped, always top Allison Janney as an army colonel who smells blood in the forest. Yet introducing the graceful Madeleine Yuna Voyles as the character and catalyst of this piece of pure blockbuster cinema, that even Marty would be proud of, is the real scene-stealer. Set to a stellar soundtrack and Hans Zimmer's shimmering score, this electroshock, beam of beautiful blue light that reaches earth like the NOMAD is no simulation. It's a game, genre and real world changer. Heed its call in this brave new world. This intelligent piece is anything but artificial. TIM DAVID HARVEY.

Further Filming: 'Elysium', 'Ex Machina', 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story'.