3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): The Creator

2023, Gareth Edwards (Monsters) -- cinema

Gareth Edwards has directed four feature films, starting with the indie dear (you are a man of your repetitive cliches, aren't you?) Monsters but including some pretty fucking big names: the relaunch of Godzilla, and a Star Wars movie. But for some reason I was surprised he got a big budget blockbuster scifi movie, that is so very much a passion project. I am not surprised at all that I loved every moment of it. 

I affectionately referred to this movie, based on the trailers, as the Neil Blomkamp film that Neil never got to do. But after seeing it, that is so disingenuous, I dropped that line of thought thirty minutes into the movie. Sure, it will always bear a resemblance, nee affectionate nod, to the robots that Blomkamp used in a few of his movies, and the Oats Studios shorts. But Edwards take on AI and robotic life is entirely his own, and in this age of the overuse of AI in pop culture references, but more akin to these over glorified chat-bots, it was a refreshing escape of the Fear of AI.

As the movie opened with a TV newsreel about the history of AI. At first I was thinking, this was going to be an alt-history where the use of robots and AI in the workplace started in the early 20th century, so by the time the late 21st century hit, human-level thinking (aka sentient) AI, in robots and not, was ubiquitous. Until a nuke was dropped on LA, by an AI. Given this is an American newsreel, it is an unreliable narrator, as the Bad Guys in this movie are also the Americans.

In this world, America has banned AI, so they have escaped to other parts of the world. I imagine the westernized portions of this world are fearful of what happened in America, and of America itself, so the AI have only found refuge in South East Asia, a place that already has its own reasons to fear America. The AI, both the very obvious robots, and the more human looking simulants are without question, people. But America says otherwise and acts otherwise, killing them whenever and wherever they can, not giving much care about borders. They have a giant satellite ship called Nomad that circles the globe, directed by on-ground human soldiers, launching its own nukes at any AI bases they find, forever seeking to kill the saviour of AI, a person called Nirmata, that they know next to nothing about.

Joshua is a solider, initially tasked with infiltrating, finding and killing Nirmata, he abandons his role when they kill his pregnant wife. Five years later, they find him and send him back, influenced by the belief she is actually still alive. Instead of finding Nirmata, and their new weapon, he finds a "child" -- an AI in the form of an innocent child. But "Alphie" must be something more or they wouldn't have protecting her so much. Josh does not want to turn her over to the Americans immediately, so he goes on the run, hoping she can lead him to his wife.

As we said, walking up Yonge Street doing our post-movie chat before settling in for some drinkie-poo's, this was a "show not tell" kind of movie. Josh is moving through this world, it being explained by his actions and the actions of those around him. The Americans commit heinous acts, on a people who have shown their true "humanity" while embedded in a culture that reveres all life (so many of the "robots" are monks) and have gone so far as to adopt the children of war. The Americans do not care who they harm as long as their enemy is destroyed. They claim their enemy is not people, but you can see they know otherwise. They are choosing to act heinously.

The setting is astounding. Taking place entirely in South East Asia they move easily between cyberpunk urban centres to lush, tropical jungle and sea lanes. The people live in harmony (??) with nature and technology. Massive structures which I can only guess are power generating or related to atmosphere regulation (again, shown, but it's just the world) have shanty town style villages in their shadows, and the farmers walk around with packs of technology, while still picking rice by hand. The merging of the two lives is amazing. Until the Americans show up and blow the shit out of it.

And I loved the look of the robots and technology, it catering directly to my love of technology based concept art and 3D modelling. There are many different "types" of robots, from the barely humanoid up to the fully human looking simulants, minus that visible hole thru the lower portion of their head, and odd design feature. The depiction is meticulously human(oid), never more apparent when the AI soldiers are lounging around, gambling & hassling each other.

The story is a familiar one, but well handled. The challenges faced by Josh, an American who lost so much of himself to the bombing of LA, are great as he has all his beliefs broken apart by what he sees in front of him. Propaganda can only do so much. He can say their deaths don't matter only so many times, while watching the trauma and grief on the faces the violent actions cause. He has a goal, to find his wife and seek her forgiveness. The AI have a goal, to destroy Nomad, which should allow American's stranglehold on AI rights to wane. And America's goal, the most selfish, is just to strike back at who they claim hurt them.

Kent's take. We Agree.