Starring: John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ralph Ineson, Allison Janney, Ken Watanabe, Marc Menchaca, Michael Esper, Amar Chadha-Patel, Marc Menchaca, Sturgill Simpson
OUR RATING: ★★★★☆
Story:
Post-apocalyptic sci-fi action written and directed by Gareth Edwards. The Creator (2023) is set against a backdrop of a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence. Joshua (John David Washington), a hardened ex-special forces agent grieving the disappearance of his wife, is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI who has developed a mysterious weapon with the power to end the war, and mankind itself.
Where to Watch:
Best Quotes
Advertisement: Welcome to the future of robotics. Let them help you. Chores around the house? There isn’t anything they can’t do.
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American General: [2055] Ten years ago today, a nuclear warhead was detonated in Los Angeles. Nearly a million people incinerated, in the blink of an eye by the artificial intelligence created to protect us. We banned AI in the Western World, so this will never happen again. Yet the republics of New Asia do not share our concern, and continue to develop AI, embracing them as equals. Now, make no mistake. We’re not at war with the people of New Asia, but the AI they harbor. This is a fight for our very existence. For as long as AI is a threat, we will never stop hunting them.
Joshua: [2065] Maya. Easy. I love you. I would never do anything to hurt you. Hell, you’re all I have. Please. We have to go.
Maya: What about the others?
Joshua: What do you mean?
Maya: They’re my family.
Joshua: They’re not people, Maya. They’re not real! This is real! You and I are real. This love is real. That child is real!
Maya: No. This isn’t real.
Joshua: Maya, you don’t mean that. Please.
The Creator
Harrison – Digger: [2070, as they work at ground zero cleanup] Oh, I saw this video that said the reason AI nuked us was to take our jobs.
Joshua: They can have this job.
Harrison – Digger: That was like a real person. Okay? That was real!
Joshua: They’re not real. Okay? They don’t feel s**t. Just programming.
General Andrews: I’m General Andrews. This is Colonel Howell.
Joshua: No.
General Andrews: No what, son?
Joshua: Whatever it is you want. People come here every week. Ask me if I remember. I don’t. I don’t remember.
Colonel Howell: You know, Neanderthal’s got a bad rap. I mean, people talk about them like they were dumb, but, you know, turns out they made tools. They made clothes. They made medicine out of plants. They even made art. Little flower necklaces to bury their dead in. The only problem was there was a species that was smarter and meaner than them. Us. And we r***d and murdered them out of existence. You get where I’m going here, Taylor?
General Andrews: It took nearly a decade to build Nomad. So this our last chance
at winning the war. But if they get this Alpha-O weapon online and destroy Nomad, they win. And we go extinct. You’re the only one who knows the layout of that lab. Maybe you can help us.
Joshua: Did they tell you how close I was to finding Nirmata? How close I was to killing the son of a b**ch? How you a**holes screwed the whole mission with Nomad’s missile strike? Because that much I remember. I lost my wife that night, General, all due respect. I lost someone very near and dear to me. I lost a child that night. So, I don’t give a s**t about becoming extinct. I got TV to watch.
Colonel Howell: The human locals, including the police, all work with AI. Robots, humans, and simulants, they all hate us. So, you get caught, you’re screwed. Don’t get caught.
Joshua: [referring to Maya] I’d do anything for just one more minute.
Teerawat Mulvilai: [in New Asian] You can’t beat AI. It is evolution.
Shipley: Whatever is in there, they’re sure worried about someone getting in.
Daniels: Yeah. Or it getting out.
Colonel Howell: Give me a status on the weapon.
Captain Cotton: Shipley and the new guy went for it, but it’s all gone to s**t!
The Child
Colonel Howell: Alright. Listen to me. Did you locate the weapon?
Joshua: Yeah. It’s here. I’m with it.
Colonel Howell: Describe it.
Joshua: It’s a kid. It’s a kid. They’ve made it into some kind of kid. That’s the weapon.
Colonel Howell: What?
Colonel Howell: I can’t reach you. You have to bring it to me. Do you understand?
Joshua: No. Shipley can’t move. I mean, he’s not looking good. At all. Police are everywhere. I don’t know how I’m getting out right now. I don’t even have an exit strategy right now.
Colonel Howell: Then you know what you have to do. Kill it.
Joshua: What?
Colonel Howell: [to a beaten looking McBride] Tough day at the office?
'Death is not to be feared. The mind moves on.' - (The Creator) Share on X
Shipley: [referring to Alphie] Who the hell is she, huh? What the hell is she?
Joshua: [to Alphie] If they ask, pretend that you’re human, alright? Pretend like you’re a real person. Okay?
Joshua: What’s your name, Little Sim? What did they call you? What do you like?
Alphie: Candy.
Joshua: Hell no. Pick something else.
Alphie: But I like candy.
Joshua: Well, Candy’s occupied. We got a full residency in Las Vegas, alright? So, you pick something else you like.
Joshua: Alpha, omega. I’m going to call you, Alphie, alright? That’s your new name. Your new name’s Alphie, you understand?
Alphie: What’s your name?
Joshua: None of your damn business.
Omni: [after Shipley’s brain’s has been downloaded to him] I want to talk to my wife.
Colonel Howell: Shipley, you’re already dead. I’m sorry, son. Truly. But there is no time. The whole war is in the balance.
Colonel Howell: [after Shipley dies] I’ll see you in Valhalla.
Colonel Howell: [referring to Joshua] Mount up. We got a traitor to kill.
Joshua: Want to play a game? It’s called, “Save your friend Joshua from getting killed by the frigging police.” Alright? It’s easy to win. You could win easy. All you got to do is point to the map. Just point to where my wife is, please, and you win. Yay! We all win.
Alphie: You’re my friend?
Joshua: Hey, Little Bot. Pay attention.
Alphie: My name is not Bot. My name is Alphie. Remember?
Alphie: If you’re not a robot, how were you made?
Joshua: My parents made me.
Alphie: Where are they now?
Joshua: Off. They’re up in heaven.
'Then we're the same. We can't go to heaven. Because you're not good. And I'm not a person.' - Alphie (The Creator) Share on X
Alphie: What’s heaven?
Joshua: It’s a peaceful place in the sky.
Alphie: Are you going to heaven?
Joshua: No.
Alphie: Why not?
Joshua: You 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 Friend
Drew: So, they’re making kids now?
Joshua: Drew, this is Alphie. Simulant. Alphie, this is Drew. The a**hole.
Alphie: Hello, A**hole.
Kami: What do you want, sweetie?
Alphie: For robots to be free.
Kami: Oh. We don’t have that in the fridge. How about ice cream?
Drew: [referring to Alphie] Josh, that’s the most advanced sim I’ve ever seen in my life. The others are just copy and paste. But this kid’s different, man. She can grow. You said she can control things. The range of her powers will grow too. Eventually, she’ll be able to control all technology remotely. From anywhere. She’ll be unstoppable.
Joshua: I saw fake Mayas.
Drew: I’ve seen them too, man. It doesn’t mean anything. She probably just donated her likeness at some point. You know they were doing all that, “Get scanned today, support AI,” all that s**t.
Kami: Tell me about Joshua, Alphie.
Alphie: He’s funny. We play a game called “Save your friend Joshua from being killed
by the f***ing police”
Colonel Howell: Hack everything. It’s time to call in the cavalry.
Drew: [to Joshua] I wanted to tell you. They wouldn’t let me. The night we attacked, we learned that Nirmata, it wasn’t her father. It was her. It’s her. Maya. Maya’s Nirmata.
Maya: [flashback] My father taught me everything he knew about AI. When the war started, he was forced to flee. I was raised by the simulants. They adopted me. You know, because they can’t have kids of their own. They protected me. Loved me, took better care of me than humans would’ve.
Joshua: Maya. Nirmata. If I could just hold you, one last time.
The Mother
Harun: What do you want with the child? What is she to you?
Joshua: She was taking me to Maya.
Harun: After her father died, Maya became the next Nirmata. Maya made the child with the power to stop all weapons.
'Do you know what will happen to the West when we win this war? Nothing. We only want to live in peace.' - Harun (The Creator) Share on X
Harun: The nuclear bomb in Los Angeles was a coding error. You know that? Human error. They blamed us for their mistake. We would never attack mankind. Do you know what will happen to the West when we win this war? Nothing. We only want to live in peace.
Joshua: Let me see her one last time. Please.
Harun: That’s what they want, you fool. They are following you to get to her. I will never take you to Nirmata.
Alphie: They said you’re going to hurt Mother.
Joshua: It’s not true. I would never hurt Mother. I love her.
Alphie: Does she love you?
Joshua: She did. She did once.
Alphie: When she made me?
Joshua: Help me. Help me find Mother.
Harun: [referring to Alphie, in Japanese] The child will save us.
Commander Daw: She can stop it?
Harun: She’s not ready yet. The range of her powers are still growing. But, if we can get her up there, maybe she can destroy it.
Sergeant Bui: How can anyone survive that?
Harun: She won’t. But it will turn the tide of the war.
Sergeant Bui: Does she even know what she has been created for?
Harun: [in Japanese] No. She is innocent.
Gan – Simulant Farmer: They created us to be slaves. But we will be delivered from slavery. Soon. Our savior is coming with the power to end all wars. We will finally be free, and our two species will live together in peace.
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 got to go!
G-13: [to Howell] Command confirmed. Goodbye, ma’am. It’s been a pleasure to serve you.
Colonel Howell: Targets at our six. Go get me the child.
McBride: Copy that.
Harun: [to Joshua, referring to gravely wounded Alphie] There will never be another like her. Her mother completed her in secret, when you were together. Just weeks before the night of the attack. She could have made her to hate mankind. Perhaps she should have. But Maya put her love for you into the child. She made a new kind of life. From a scan of a human embryo. A copy of your child. Like it or not, Joshua, you are part of us now.
'Underneath it all, we're the same.' - Maya (The Creator) Share on X
Joshua: [referring to Maya] She loved me. We were going to be a family.
Joshua: We both had our secrets, but We were going to raise a child. And I am her. And she is me. We’re all connected.
Joshua: Is this Dian Dang? Alphie told me she’s in Dian Dang.
Simulant Monk: Dian Dang means “heaven”.
Simulant Monk: [referring to Maya] We hoped she would awaken, but she is stranded. She cannot return. She cannot depart. Death would bring her rebirth.
Joshua: Then why haven’t you?
Simulant Monk: It is impossible. We simulants cannot harm Nirmata.