A hollow image

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Friday, the 29th day of September. Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Coming next on The World and Everything in It: artificial intelligence at the movies.

This week, Hollywood writers brought an end to their longest strike since Ronald Reagan was president. One Writers Guild demand was protection from artificial intelligence. Well, a new film titled The Creator debuts in theaters this weekend, and it poses the opposite question: whether AI needs protection from us. Here’s WORLD arts and culture editor Collin Garbarino.

COLLIN GARBARINO, ARTS AND CULTURE EDITOR: What happens when the machines start to think for themselves? Hollywood has been pondering this question for decades. From 2001: A Space Odyssey to The Terminator to The Matrix to this summer’s latest Mission: Impossible installment, the consensus seems to be that artificial intelligence is a bad idea.

AUDIO: Execute her, or we go extinct.

But in his new movie The Creator, writer/director Gareth Edwards takes a different approach. The movie suggests we ought not fear technology so much as other humans.

SOUND: [Sounds of war]

The Creator takes place in a near future in which humanity has gone to war against artificial intelligence.

AI robots and simulants—androids possessing human faces—were supposed to improve the lives of humans, but after AI detonates a nuclear bomb in downtown Los Angeles, it’s time to rethink humanity’s relationship with technology. The United States outlaws artificial intelligence and launches a war to eradicate AI abroad. The country of New Asia, however, provides safe havens for their machine neighbors.

AUDIO: We are this close to winning the war.

The U.S. military sees itself locked in a battle for the survival of the species, and they convince a wounded veteran named Joshua, played by John David Washington, to help them root out the last AI resistance before it’s too late. Joshua must find “Nirmata,” the mysterious creator of artificial intelligence, and neutralize the ultimate AI weapon he’s created.

COLONEL: Did you locate the weapon?

JOSHUA: Yes, it’s here. I’m with it.

COLONEL: Describe it.

JOSHUA: It’s a kid. A kid. They made it into some kind of kid. That’s the weapon.

But what’s Joshua supposed to do when the ultimate AI weapon turns out to be an innocent simulant child?

JOSHUA: Police are everywhere. I don’t know how I’m getting out right now.

COLONEL: Then you know what you have to do. Kill it.

JOSHUA: What?

Joshua isn’t interested in killing a child, whether human or simulant. Besides, he thinks this child might hold the key to unraveling a mystery from his own past.

JOSHUA: Come on. Come on, little sim. Get in the car. Hey, it’ll be fun, like cartoons. It’ll be fun.

The Creator is rated PG-13 for some language and intense war violence. But it’s also a stunningly beautiful movie. Edwards, who previously directed 20-16’s Star Wars movie Rogue One, proves he has an eye for aesthetics. His visuals echo classic films like Apocalypse Now (1979) and Blade Runner (1982). He filmed much of the movie on location in southeast Asia. The gorgeous setting provides an elegant counterpoint to the violence of war. And seamlessly layered atop this realistic world is some amazing computer generated imagery.

But while the movie has plenty of style, it falls short in human emotion. Edwards’ script ultimately fails to tell a compelling story—those visual echoes to better movies end up calling attention to how derivative the movie’s plot is.

ALPHIE: Are you going to Heaven?

JOSHUA: Nah, you’ve got to be a good person to go to Heaven.

ALPHIE: Then, we’re the same. We can’t go to Heaven because you’re not good, and I’m not a person.

The Creator purports to be about the relationship between humanity and robots, but it stays pretty superficial when it wrestles with questions about what it means to be human or whether human exceptionalism can ever be imputed to a sophisticated simulacrum of human consciousness.

Fundamentally The Creator isn’t about AI or technology. The movie attacks perceived American imperialism and warmongering. And it steals most of its thin plot from James Cameron’s Avatar. Edwards replaces Cameron’s Pandora with Thailand and blue-skinned Na'vi with orange-robed Buddhist robots seeking harmony. And just like Jake Sully, John David Washington’s Joshua goes native, disavowing the scorched-earth military that pursues him.

ALPHIE: They’ve come for me. I have to help.

JOSHUA: There’s nothing we can do.

ALPHIE: I have to help!

JOSHUA: Alphie, we have to go.

Edwards obviously doesn’t like America’s military intervention abroad, and anyone who’s familiar with the Vietnam War will see in the film a condemnation of the United States’ attempts to contain communism. Edwards also rolls in America’s war on terror. It’s been more than 20 years since 9/11, but it feels a little tasteless for Edwards to imply the tragedy was America’s fault.

But the political agenda isn’t really the worst part of the movie. The script simply includes too many nonsensical plot devices and contrivances. Why is the child a weapon? Edwards suggests Nirmata had some loving intention, but there’s nothing loving about turning a child into a weapon. It’s just stupid, and the third act offers a lazy final set piece that rehashes the climax of many a Marvel movie.

The Creator serves as an unintentional metaphor for an android. There’s stunning technological wizardry, but just like an android lifelessly mimics a person, The Creator is merely a hollow copy of much better movies.

I’m Collin Garbarino.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.