I love it. It's visually stunning. Not just the cinematography itself, but everything you see in the frame: the characters, the real locations, the visual effects (A.I. robots, simulants, the NOMAD, etc.). The acting is great across the board – especially, especially by Ms. Madeleine Yuna Voyles. I have no idea how she did it. I was moved to my core. I have not been so rocked by an actor's performance since Mckenna Grace's performance in _Gifted_. Speaking of... It's emotional and moving. And it's thought-provoking. This is one of those movies that sat with me afterwards. And Hans Zimmer's score? Phenomenal. Also, the sound design team did an amazing job as well. I thought the sound effects for the variety of fictional weapons, ships, etc. were visceral and natural and (I'm not sure the right words, but) unique and perfectly fitting. I'm 100% sold on this movie. I was moved the first time I saw it, and even more so this time.

Right, well I was really disappointed with this. It's like a precursor to the "Terminator" films with "Joshua" (John David Washington) charged with tracking down and destroying a super-weapon being devised by the AI that mankind developed to keep it safe, but that turned the tables on us all and now robots are ruling the Earth. Sound familiar? Well, the whole thing is pretty derivative with only a few, fleeting, scenes from Gemma Chan and a frankly implausible effort from the usually reliable Allison Janney sporting a militaristic haircut as "Col. Howell" - the soldier charged with managing our hero on his trek to eliminate whom we quickly learn is "Alphie" (Madeleine Yuna Voyles) who has a whopping great hole between it's ears. It's just all been seen and done before and though this does introduce a degree of humanity and sentiment as the story progresses, it is all just a bit, well - been there, seen that and got Will Smith to sign my T-shirt. To be fair, it does move along well enough with plenty of pyrotechnics, explosions and lasers but the story is thin and predictable and the denouement could have been on the drawing board after about ten minutes. Bet it cost a fortune, but it's all just a bit forgettably lacking.

As a big film nerd going into The Creator, i was genuinely excited. I mean come on, its an original Sci-Fi film directed by Gareth Edwards with Greig Fraser as the DOP, who wouldn't love to see that?. But right after finishing the movie i only felt disappointment. This movie from start to finish seemed hellbent on making the most safe and cliched choices possible leading to a lot of unearned and/or hollow emotional moments. The visuals are obviously amazing. Edwards, Fraser, Seffer and their teams deserve huge credit for creating amazing imagery and worlds that would put 200-300 million blockbusters to shame. But no matter how amazing these visuals were, its generic plot and mediocre action barely thrilled and just dragged on and on and on. I honestly would have forgiven the script if the action setpieces were as good as the visuals, but most of the action just felt too generic and every time i felt that the action was finally building up to something tight or gripping, the scene just suddenly ends. Cockblocking its audience of any thrills. So by the end i just felt empty and bored. There was nothing really memorable about the movie other than the visual world it created. It even cut the robot side kick that we see in the trailer. Like damn bro, where are my cool CQC robots??. There was just too much wasted potential here, and it just saddens me to say that The Creator to me was just a huge letdown. If you want to watch John David Washington kicking ass i highly recommend Tenet. Not only was he way more charismastic in it, but it also has great action, story, and a goddamn satisfying ending.