The Creator (USA, 2023)
Science fiction action film produced and directed by Gareth Edwards (Rogue One, Monsters) and starring John David Washington, Gemma Chan, Ken Watanabe, and Allison Janney.
In the near future, AI become prevalent worldwide. A rogue AI set off a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles causing the US to outlaw AI and go to war with "New Asia", where AI is still allowed.
Joshua (Washington) is a special forces operator who is recruited to an American strike team with the mission to hunt down and kill The Creator, a mysterious master AI who has supposedly developed a new super weapon that can end the war and perhaps humankind itself. Joshua's personal objective for joining the strike team is to find his former wife, Maya (Chan), whom he married while undercover 5 years ago. The new AI "super weapon" is not what Joshua expected and he finds himself on the run from both the human and AI forces.
The film looks great. Edwards has always had a gift for visuals going all the way back to his low budget film "Monsters". Washington is a great leading man with both the acting talent and the physicality for roles like this. All the elements appears in place for a great film and yet, the film never really achieves its full potential. It seems caught between being a high adrenaline chase movie and a thoughtful world building science fiction story. In the end, it does not achieve greatness on either end of the spectrum.
Rating: 6.5 or 7/10
A fun film to see on the big screen with great visuals, some excellent performances, and a thin storyline that barely holds up the weight of the movie.
Aside - the average rating from the group I was with was about 8/10