‘The Creator’ Review: Gareth Edwards’ Robot Uprising Is Made of Old Stereotypes and Recycled Parts

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic The world will never know what was going through 26-year-old Christian missionary John Allen Chau’s head when he was shot and killed by arrows off the coast of North Sentinel Island. There are jokes, of course, and educated guesses, but the best most of us can do is search inside ourselves for the answer.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic What would a monk want with a gun? Bringing wisdom and a streak of wry humor to his Bhutan-set sophomore feature, “The Monk and the Gun” director Pawo Choyning Dorji teases any number of possible answers to that question over the course of a droll, shrewdly satirical fable, in which Western values crash against a seemingly intransigent (but potentially more enlightened) South Asian culture. A gifted storyteller who keeps audiences guessing about his characters’ motives until the surprising moment everything comes together, Dorji was born in Bhutan, but attended university in Wisconsin.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser was “devastated” when Warner Bros. announced that “Dune: Part Two” was shifting its release date from Nov. 2023 to March 2024.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Gareth Edwards’ “The Creator” was a resourceful sci-fi endeavor with an $80 million production budget, but its visuals are on par with epic blockbusters that cost three times that amount. Rather than shoot on a studio backlot, the filmmaker behind “Godzilla” and “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” opted to shoot in eight different countries, including Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and Japan. For an all-out climatic action sequence set in Thailand, a village comes under attack by the U.S.

Naman Ramachandran Disney sci-fi epic “The Creator” and Lionsgate U.K.’s horror franchise entry “Saw X” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office — and the race was almost too close to call. “Saw X” won the three-day total with £1.92 million ($2.31 million), while “The Creator” was just behind with £1.89 million ($2.27 million).

With a budget of $80 million—a pittance compared to the budgets of most modern blockbusters— Gareth Edwards has made his long-awaited return to science-fiction on the big screen with “The Creator,” a provocative sci-fi adventure set roughly 50 years in the future, where Western society is devastated by and at war with artificial intelligence (read our review). Whereas the East, having not undergone a similar tragedy, has embraced and fostered the technology.

Michaela Zee “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” director Gareth Edwards is once again addressing the multiple reports about the 2016 film requiring extensive reshoots overseen by Tony Gilroy (the eventual “Andor” creator was hired by Lucasfilm to join the “Rogue One” team in June 2016). On a recent episode of KCRW’s “The Business” podcast, Edwards claimed “there is so much inaccuracy” surrounding the making of the “Star Wars” prequel.

Refresh for latest…: Here we are with a sort of hybrid weekend at the international box office: there were fresh entries from the Hollywood studios, as well as major new titles timed to holiday play in local markets, and a holdover that’s continuing to rack up records.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Paramount’s animated sequel “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie” topped the box office in its debut, earning a solid $23 million from 3,989 North American locations over the weekend. Those ticket sales were more than enough to rule over the three other new nationwide releases, which could be categorized as the good (Lionsgate’s gruesome “Saw X“), the meh (Disney and New Regency’s sci-fi thriller “The Creator“) and the ugly (Sony’s Game Stop stock-inspired “Dumb Money“). “Saw X” took second place with $18 million, an impressive start for the 10th entry in the long-running horror series.

Rogue One director Gareth Edwards‘ new movie The Creator is now in theaters and it’s an epic sci-fi action thriller that will definitely have audiences excited!

Todd Gilchrist editor As costs spiral upward for production infrastructure, visual effects and good old fashioned star wattage, blockbuster budgets tend to be one of the closely guarded secrets in Hollywood. Yet in the weeks and months leading to the release of “The Creator,” due Sept.

Jordan Moreau Move over, Barbenheimer, it’s time for Saw Patrol. This weekend sees the releases of four major movies, including Paramount’s family friendly “PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” Lionsgate’s gory, R-rated “Saw X,” 20th Century’s sci-fi epic “The Creator” and “Sony’s GameStop stock story “Dumb Money.” “PAW Patrol” is expected to come out on top with an estimated $18 million to $20 million opening, but “Saw X” will be right on its tail with an estimated $15 million to $18 million. However, some projections go as high as $20 million to $25 million, overtaking the “PAW Patrol” pups.

Gareth Edwards returns to theaters this weekend with “The Creator,” a sci-fi epic that’s his first feature since 2016’s “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.” But is a return to big-budget blockbuster filmmaking for the director? Kind of, sort of, but not quite. “The Creator” boasts an $80 budget, still a hefty price tag these days, but mild in comparison to the estimated $265 million for “Rogue One” and the $160 for Edward’s 2014 film “Godzilla.” READ MORE: ‘The Creator’ Final Trailer: Gareth Edwards’ Sci-Fi Epic About The War Between Humans & A.I.

So, filmmaker Gareth Edwards is doing the interview round for his latest sci-fi extravaganza, “The Creator,” starring John David Washington. It’s a movie heavily indebted to “Blade Runner,” “Apocalypse Now,” and even “Star Wars” (read our review here).

A familiar mélange and pastiche of sci-fi-tropes you’ve seen and felt before, filmmaker Gareth Edwards’ science-fiction drama, “The Creator,” is recognizable but, nonetheless, largely compelling— skillfully understanding the crucial balance of blockbuster scale and grounding character intimacy. Its intriguing examination of what constitutes a sentient being—coupled with its aesthetic mix of lo-fi, gritty, and grimy tech blended with sleeker, cleaner, and austerely traditional visual references to the future— makes for an engaging experience clearly designed for the big screen.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events.

Director, Producer, and Co-Writer (with Chris Weitz) Gareth Edwards (Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) has been working on his idea for an original science fiction tale involving human interaction with advanced AI childfor many years. Now that The Creator is finally reaching the screen I would say it is more like science fact, or at least a plausible facsimile. With recent warnings from Silcon Valley leaders about imminent dangers with the alarming speed of AI progress, and all the talk (especially with the guild strikes) about the threat of AI technology invading and possibly even shifting out of our control in frightening ways, Edwards has cooked up a hell of a story in which AI just might be the good guys – or robots as it were – in a world where humans could be losing the upper hand.

Naman Ramachandran Disney’s Agatha Christie adaptation “A Haunting in Venice” stayed atop the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second successive weekend with £1.4 million ($1.8 million), per numbers from Comscore. The film, directed by Kenneth Branagh, where he plays detective Hercule Poirot, now has a total of £4.9 million after two weekends in release.

Sophia Scorziello editor Cannes darling “May December” has unveiled its first trailer starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton. Directed by filmmaker Todd Haynes, the film first premiered back in May and is set for a limited theatrical release before hitting Netflix. “May December” is based loosely on the true story of Mary Kay Letourneau, an American teacher charged with having a sexual relationship with one of her 12-year-old students.

He’s captivated our imaginations with iconic monsters and futuristic space battles, using a symphony of light, scale, sound, and mastery over visual effects. Oh, and he really knows how to make Darth Vader scary.