The Creator (2023)★ 6.8/10

The special effects are clean, refined, with a grand vibe; the story is simple yet deep. The whole theme centers around artificial intelligence and love. In a war setting with a touch of irony, the main guy and the AI kid track the wife's footsteps, getting the real deal on love and the meaning of peace. And it's not just the AI that gets you thinking; it's humanity itself.

The special effects are top-notch, but it's missing some deep ideas you find in other great sci-fi flicks. I mean, there's a bit of reflection on artificial intelligence when the main characters embrace the spaceship, but the movie doesn't really dig into that, so it only scratches the surface of exploring technology, intelligence, and even ethics and philosophy. Still, it's pretty impressive if you're just checking out the cool effects and future vision.

It's a decent film overall, but nothing quite stood out for me. The overarching theme is similar to "Star Wars”. The audio-visual immersion is average, but the design of the Nomad spaceship is excellent. The most remarkable aspect of the music is not Hans Zimmer's score, but rather a particular ambient electronic track. What's interesting is that this film actually focuses on Asia and portrays the US government as the oppressors. It's quite hard to imagine a movie with such a perspective in recent years.

8 out of 10. The show reminds me of "Monsters", from its overall structure to even its strength and weaknesses. The movie disguises itself as a road trip film at the start, showing its disapproval of the sci-fi genre. The story draws inspirations from 9/11 and the Vietnam War, with a spin of Eastern Zen philosophy and the Bible, all set in a cyberpunk themed world. The conflict between New Asia and Nomad seems more like imperialism vs third world countries, or a representation of class conflicts. The show suffers from the same issue as "Monsters" in the third act: regressing to the typical individual heroism. Why do I even feel like it copied from "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story"? On a brighter note, the art direction and visual effects are still top-notch, especially Edward's skills in creating a sense of immersion with the gigantic objects in the film. It's just unfortunate that the overall quality of the film falls short in some aspects.

It's horrible. Every character is bad, and the story is full of cringy moments. Despite having advanced technologies, Humans deal with problems like kids. I was also lost for words for AI's weak resistance against humans in the show. Alphie could have been a much better character, but instead she was used as merely a tool to serve the plot; a good-for-nothing character hiding behind a veil of pseudo-mystery, equipped with useless features such as recognizing the first person she sees as her father.

A sci-fi disaster movie about humanity. I’d never know that it was so emotional despite being a sci-fi movie if I haven’t watched it. The soundtrack is so beautiful; respect to the timeless Claire de Lune. What makes humans different from robots and animals is our emotions, love, and compassion, which are both fragile but also the most powerful weapons. The young actress did an amazing job!

The reason for the war between humans and AI in the future world comes down to the evil and untrusting side of human nature. But the setup of the AI in this movie is just kinda cheap and one sided; peace may be one of their visions, but why would their mindset remain unchanged since the beginning, even after all that has happened? Luckily, the AI kid in the movie can think for herself; she sees for herself everything that happens in the world, her actions are deeply influenced by her own experiences, and she takes no sides.

The art direction and cinematography are both excellent, but the plot is terrible. In today's era of excessive green screens and CGI, it's rare to see a serious sci-fi film that strives to maintain visual realism both in tone and in techniques. At times during the movie, I even thought it was shot on film. The concept design also breaks free from the clichés often found in sci-fi films. The combination of Eastern Zen philosophy and the idea of intelligent machinery is something I've only seen in games, never on the big screen. However, with the Cold War-era mindset of East-West confrontation and a script that revolves around the subject of mankind and AI's rights to exist, it feels more like a product of the Terminator era rather than that of the 2020s. Not to mention the stereotypical alienation of Asians in the film and the portrayal of them as exotic.

There's room to go further for discussion of the relationship between machines and humans, but it doesn't delve deeply either. The cinematography and lighting are beautiful for the most part, but there are important shots being stiffly shot. The female characters and supporting cast are like NPCs, with no arcs or personalities, being only instrumental. The budget might’ve been limited, so I guess a lot of pre-existing scenes were used to do the work, and the city looks rather like Blade Runner 2049. Overall, it's still quite enjoyable to watch.

A bit better than I expected. This is the first time I've seen a movie with a fusion of Japanese and Southeast Asian styles, which feels a bit weird but makes sense. This kind of AI-themed movie is my cup of tea, and it’s shot very nicely, so it's worth a look. If I have to summarize it, then it's all about killing off the human race.