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philthepill.online · @philthepill.online@bridge.neodb.net

Rated The Creator 6/10

Probably not the ideal format for this movie - watched over several weeks in chunks via the lowest quality DVD-rip I could have pulled off instead of what I assume would have been a more compelling theater experience. Still, I'm a story guy. And it's pretty well-documented here how the screenplay fails to deliver characters that stick. Instead, I'm going to fixate on a fundamental problem with tension. The Creator is supposed to sell you on the idea that it would be a tragedy for Alphie to suffer - one must buy into her humanity. But throughout the movie, Alphie is literally and figuratively a device. In a world where there is a technological mediation for every movement, transaction, and act of violence, she's the Elite Hacker. There is no scenario in which she can be written into a corner. The film keeps trying to box John David Washington's character, Joshua Taylor, into a no-win scenario, but we all know that Alphie is there to bail him out. It probably wouldn't be as uncomfortable if it weren't for the fact that The Creator trades in scenarios of despair. This movie wants you to get to the brink, contemplate losing it all, in order to deliver that catharsis of giving you a reason to keep going. A noble mission, perhaps, but excessively drawn out by an interest in serving up tension while always dangling Alphie over the plot like a benevolent sword of Damocles.

#movie

Published 2026-04-28 00:00 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere