7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Amid a future war between the human race and the forces of artificial intelligence, Joshua, 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.
Starring: John David Washington, Madeleine Yuna Voyles, Gemma Chan, Allison Janney, Ken WatanabeSci-Fi | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Romance | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.76:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.75:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Digital copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
This may not be the prevailing opinion, but at least currently (emphasis on that currently part) there are limits to so-called artificial intelligence. Case in point: when the recent fracas involving Sam Altman and OpenAI broke out, and because I have a completely unkempt sense of humor, I of course headed over more or less immediately to ChatGPT to ask it (him? her? them?) what was going on, and was repeatedly told, "I don't have up to date information", no matter how I phrased the question. Yeah, right. That perhaps hilarious outcome notwithstanding, The Creator posits a (near) future world where A.I. has few if any limits, and we poor, distraught humans may be on the brink of extinction as a result (something that evidently played into OpenAI's Board attempting to remove Altman, since they evidently were more concerned about that potentiality than Altman was, at least according to some news reports). In a way it's also kind of funny to hear co- producer, co-writer and director Gareth Edwards talk in the making of supplement included on this disc about wanting to approach a studio with the idea of producing a science fiction extravaganza for what many bean counters might think of as a miniscule budget, since The Creator reportedly ended up costing some $80 million, certainly not a "mere pittance" by anyone's standards. The result is a frequently very interesting film, with some perhaps slightly muddled "metaphysics", but which has some rather interesting "echoes" of any number of both science fiction tinged and other offerings, including (and get ready for a trifecta you've probably never seen before) District 9, Apocalypse Now and Little Buddha, as odd as that may sound.
The Creator is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of 20th Century Studios and Disney / Buena Vista with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.76:1. Captured with a variety of cameras including some Sony models (kind of hilariously, I think this is the first IMDb technical specs page I've seen where a drone is listed first) and finished at 4K, this is, as mentioned above, often astounding from a visual perspective. While I am once again recommending those with the appropriate equipment to opt for the 4K UHD release, you really can't go seriously wrong with this really great look presentation. I often tend to favor 1080 presentations of 35mm material when compared to a 2160 release, but kind of ironically, the very heavy at times digital grain that attends this presentation actually struck me as rather organic looking, though it's arguably just a tad less visible in this 1080 version than on the 4K UHD disc. It definitely gives a textured, gritty appearance, especially against brighter backgrounds, but it never seemed inartfully done to me. Detail levels are often superb throughout the presentation, at times surprisingly so given some aggressive grading and frequent low light sequences. The film repeatedly utilizes either blue or yellow tones, all of which pop extremely well and surprisingly don't lead to much if any fine detail deficits.
The Creator sports a very nicely immersive DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 track. Our scores above can only "say" so much, and at times I have been known to give a 1080 disc's 7.1 rendering a half point off so that I have "room" to give a full five stars to a 4K UHD disc's Atmos track, but in this particular instance, while I once again recommend those with the proper equipment to opt for the 4K UHD release with its Atmos track, the 7.1 rendering on this disc is superb on its own merits. There are impressive immersive capabilities in this track despite the lack of the Atmos "verticality", with excellent ambient environmental effects in particular engaging the side and rear channels. Some of the cacophonous urban material as well as the many shootouts and other explosions provide regular LFE and some fantastically enveloping sound effects. Hans Zimmer contributes another first rate score, one which has just hints of Asian sounds like gamelan. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish are available.
Years ago on a rather long plane trip I was watching Conan O'Brien's old show on the in flight television and he did one of his "News from the Future" bits where he held a flashlight under his chin, campfire story style, and relayed various "prognostications". One was so funny, I literally burst out in incredibly loud laughter that startled everyone around me. That O'Brien comment was, "In the future, robots will replace humans in dull, repetitive tasks like washing dishes and marrying J. Lo". So I guess in the long run, A.I. isn't such a bad thing, right? Tongues in cheek notwithstanding, as my colleague Brian Orndorf mentioned in his review of the film, Edwards probably never quite "gets there" with this effort, and for me personally there were simply too many questions left unanswered to make the story really congeal. That said, I was frequently gobsmacked by the visuals, and the interplay between the quasi-father and daughter in this film gives it some unexpected heart. Technical merits are first rate, and with caveats noted, The Creator comes Recommended.
Includes "The Invisible Boy" on SD
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