CAN WE TALK A BOUT?

THE CREATOR AND THE JOYS OF ORIGINAL MOVIEMAKING

Isn’t it just so nice to see something we haven’t seen before?

SPOILER ALERT!

The Creator isn’t my favourite film of the year, but it is the 2023 film I’m most glad exists. Gareth Edwards’ tremendous, soulful, sentimental sci-fi about a frighteningly plausible AI future features exquisite world-building, punchy set-pieces, ever-topical commentary on American imperialism, thoughtful musings on the nature of humanity, a compelling emotional throughline… but, most importantly, it’s a too-rare example of original big-swing, big-screen filmmaking.

For anyone who has fond memories of a time before they heard the term ‘intellectual property’, The Creator feels like a throwback in the best possible way. I’d almost forgotten the thrill of entering an imaginative, thoroughly realised new world with zero pre-conceived notions of what to expect. Sure, there are still joys to be had from the Marvel-model of comfort viewing, where everything is the same but different, or seeing a great filmmaker achieve something special with existing material. But wholly new experiences were a staple of my cinema-going diet growing up, and I’ve been severely malnourished for too long.

‘THE CREATOR FEELS LIKE A THROWBACK IN THE BEST POSSIBLE WAY’

Few things will stick with me more from this year than The Creator’s NOMAD – alow-orbit space station that hovers menacingly over the New Asia landscape – emitting cold, blue targeting beams before raining death from above. Or the anticipation that builds ahead of the village assault, when something unseen starts steamrolling the tree line, and the near-limitless potential for what monstrously efficient murder machine is about to emerge now. That the film also definitively and satisfyingly ends, with no sequel-baiting loose ends or unresolved plot threads, feels like a sad exception for films at this level.

Why there aren’t more films like The Creator should be obvious from one glance at the box-office charts – they scarcely register in a sea of sequels, adaptations and franchise extensions (Elemental stands alone in the top 10 this year). And the risk post-strike is that studios are going to be doubling down on safe bets to cover their losses. But with audience tolerance for low-hanging fruit IP filmmaking at an all-time nadir, now is the perfect time to take audiences to brave new worlds.