It’s such a shame that THE CREATOR’s script isn’t strong enough to support its weighty themes because it’d be great to see a good high-concept sci-fi blockbuster that is as resolutely anti-American as this. As it is, the film’s themes around US imperialism and Western xenophobia get lost in weak narrative convolutions.
The high point is how terrific the film looks. It shows how much good production design and practical sets can carry a film’s visuals. The aesthetic is kind of Simon Stålenhag, kind of cyberpunk and Gareth Edwards pulls it off so well. The low point is John David Washington who, like in TENET, is not a convincing lead and, like in BLACKKKLANSMAN, loses a lot of sympathy from the off for being a spycop deceiving a partner into an intimate sexual relationship.