What happens when advancements in technology start to go too far? One of the biggest advancements seen in our time is that of artificial intelligence, or AI, and its progression is moving at an astonishing rate. But what if, instead of focusing on the power of AI in the scientific or medical field, worldly powers see it fit to use the technology for their military and even within their respective nation’s workforce?
What if these authorities granted sentience to artificial beings, only to strip it from them because of their own mistakes? Could that be considered murder or genocide? Or is there a line to be drawn between what is and isn’t considered true life and consciousness?
The 2023 film The Creator deals with this very concept, with a premise that seems less outlandish than it might have in years past. In the year 2055, AI has progressed to being inside humanoid robots known as Simulants. The Western nations wage war on the Simulants after a nuclear explosion detonates in Los Angeles. A group of Eastern nations, calling themselves New Asia, protest the call to war as they try to keep the remaining Simulants alive to co-exist with humans. An ex-Special Forces officer, Joshua Taylor, is recruited to find the creator of the AI technology, someone named Nirmata, but he learns he’s been misled by his superiors.
What Is The Creator About?
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The Creator |
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Director |
Gareth Edwards |
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Writers |
Chris Weits, Gareth Edwards |
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Cast |
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Release Date |
September 29, 2023 |
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Runtime |
133 minutes |
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Where to Watch |
Hulu |
In 2055, a nuclear warhead goes off in Los Angeles, allegedly detonated by an advanced AI technology, and the US wage war against the Simulants. The countries of New Asia protest, believing they can co-exist with the Simulants. Special Forces officer Joshua Taylor is sent on an undercover mission to get familiar with a woman named Maya, whom he is told is the daughter of Nirmata, the creator of the Simulants and their AI technology. The two end up falling in love and marrying, and the audience is brought in at the point that she is pregnant with their child.
After Maya discovers Joshua’s true identity, she flees their doomed village in New Asia, but is hit with a missile shot by the space station USS NOMAD, and is presumed dead. The film picks up five years later. Joshua has left the Special Forces and works in Los Angeles, rummaging through the remaining wreckage of the nuclear explosion. He is approached by government officials, who show him footage of Maya alive. They convince him to work with them to retrieve a rumored weapon designed to destroy the NOMAD and to find Nirmata.
Joshua finds the weapon, a Simulant made to look like a child. He learns that she can control and manipulate nearby electronics with her mind. Joshua strays further from the mission, as he believes the child — whom he names Alphie — can lead him to Nirmata, which will also lead him to Maya.
As Joshua grows closer with Alphie, he learns that not only is Maya actually Nirmata, but that she had created Alphie in secret by scanning their child’s embryo, essentially making her a copy of their unborn child. He also learns that the nuclear explosion in LA was actually due to a human coding error, not an AI attack. As Johsua’s inner conflicts deepen, he must decide which side he is willing to fight for and to understand is place in all the madness.
How Does The Creator End?
After learning that Maya was Nirmata, and that the Simulant Alphie was made from a scan of the embryo of Maya and Joshua’s unborn child, Joshua helps Alphie escape from the US government, and the two board a flight. Before the plane can be brought back to the airport, as per the government’s instructions, Alphie takes control of the plane and lands it on the NOMAD, the Death Star-like space station that the US is using to hunt down the remaining Simulants around the world.
Once on board, and after fighting off the armed guards and soldiers, Alphie shuts down the NOMAD’s power, giving Joshua time to set an explosive on one of the missiles. Alphie releases her hold on the station’s power and flees to rescue Joshua, who is stuck in a chamber of the ship that is quickly losing oxygen. Alphie is first distracted by a Simulant that has the face of her mother, Maya/Nirmata. She places the transferred consciousness flash drive, a sort of memory chip, into the unactiviated bot’s head, hoping to bring back her mother.
Learning that the memory chip will take some time to work, Alphie leaves the Maya Simulant in the garden sector of the NOMAD, and continues her rescue of Joshua. After returning oxygen to him, Alphie attempts to get an escape pod ready for them both to flee from the station. However, General Andrews captures Alphie with remote-controlled robotic arms. Joshua has no other choice but to close the escape pod hatch before he can make it inside, which severs the arms, but causes the door to be stuck shut.
After saying their goodbyes, Joshua releases the escape pod with Alphie in it. He remains on the NOMAD, which only has minutes before his explosive obliterates it. As Alphie descends back to Earth, Joshua roams the NOMAD before coming across the Simulant Maya in the garden sector. Her synchronization has completed, and the Simulant holds the memories and consciousness of the deceased Maya. The two embrace as the NOMAD explodes, killing them both for good.
When Alphie lands, she sees crowds of people and Simulants alike, cheering and chanting as the NOMAD comes crashing down, signifying the end of the war and the beginning of a new era of free Simulants. Alphie laughs with tears of joy before the camera cuts to black.
Joshua started out with the same mentality as the Western countries, repeatedly saying about the Simulants throughout the movie:
They’re not real. […] Just programming.
He even said this to Maya, not knowing she was in fact Nirmata. But after encountering Alphie, the first Simulant child, he was given a physical representation of the Simulants’ innocence as a whole. He was able to see that their sentience was more than just programming; rather, it resembled the true living experience that humans endure, with growth, empathy, and compassion. After all, they were made in the human image, with their brain chemistry programmed to act and react as a human’s brain would.
Looking past the flesh and bone aspect of it all, how are they any different from humans? They were involuntarily brought into the world — by other humans. They were told to seek a purpose with no knowledge of anything awaiting them after death, only stories of such possibilities. And so, by sacrificing himself for Alphie’s survival, Joshua is hoping that her presence will bring peace and understanding to those who still oppose the Simulants’ existence, as he once did. In his eyes, her innocence and humanity are greater weapons than her programmed powers.
What Is The Creator’s Rotten Tomatoes Score?
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The Creator RT Scores |
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Critic Score |
66% |
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Audience Score |
76% |
The Creator scored a 66% Critic Score, and 76% Audience Score. While most critics thoroughly enjoyed the sci-fi film for its visuals and relevant storyline, their main critique was the lack of emotion and characterization within the characters of the film. In other words, they thought the film rushed in certain places, and spent too much time on things that were not as important. Most felt that it didn’t put in the necessary character development for audiences to more effectively connect with the people (and robots) involved in the story.
But overall, The Creator is a worthwhile watch for sci-fi fans. It offers themes that many people can relate to in the realm of technology, family, and one’s place in a world that seems to divide more and more every day.
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