The Creator is the latest sci-fi film from Gareth Edwards of Rogue One fame. The movie boasts of some incredible special effects and a supposedly unique story about the threat of Artificial Intelligence against humanity. However, so many parts of the movie, including The Creator ending, leave audiences with more questions than any satisfying resolution. And it’s not just the ending, but throughout the movie, there were a lot of ideas presented that begged more explanation that we never got. To the point where many of those things ruined the experience of the film altogether.
So here are the 6 things in The Creator that made no sense whatsoever.
Why Is Joshua So Important To The First Mission
Image via 20th Century Studios
After establishing who Joshua (John David Washington) is, the US Government later needs him to return to be part of a mission to uncover a new weapon created by AI against humanity. For some reason, he is the only one who already knows about the base that this weapon is in now. But if Joshua already knew about the base, enough that they needed him to guide this new group of soldiers inside— why didn’t they infiltrate this base before? Or what mission required Joshua to become that familiar with the base in the first place, but not actually do anything to stop them? It doesn’t really make much sense, instead of just needing a reason for Joshua to become involved in the mission where he will meet Alphie (Madeline Yuna Voyles).
Last Minute Existence Of A Lunar Base!
Image via 20th Century Studios
Literally in the middle of the climax, as Joshua saves Alphie from death, and needs to get on the Nomad to destroy it, audiences all of a sudden find out that in this future, mankind has colonized the moon. And that there are regular moon flights to the moon, through a commercial airline called Lunar Airlines. Like, no big deal, just a massive bit of information created out of thin air at the end of the movie. Which brings up so many questions.
If humanity in this future has colonized the moon, so much so that going to the moon is an everyday occurrence, then why is hunting down artificially intelligent beings such a difficult thing? They’ve created an entirely new method of transportation that makes leaving the planet Earth feel like not a big deal. But the ability to scan begins with robotic bodies and artificial brains and destroy them is a thing that eludes the American government. It creates a huge disparity between the Americans’ actual technological abilities, and whatever the limitations the story seemingly creates for the sake of conflict.
The Writers Seemingly Confuse Artificial Intelligence With Cyborgs
Image via 20th Century Studios
The beginning of The Creator tells audiences what AI is. Robots created with artificial intelligence to help humans. But there are also other robots called Simulants whose intelligence comes from brains scans from other, actual humans. So essentially a copy of a human brain in a robot body. But both regular robots and Simulants get grouped together as AI, even though they are opposing concepts.
A human brain within a robot body is still human intelligence, despite it’s physical attributes no longer being human. There’s nothing artificial about its intelligence, just its physical body. So if Simulants are robots using the brain scan of existing humans, using a downloaded copy of a human brain to function, think, act, and behave— it’s not artificial. The closest description would be, possibly, a cyborg. Even if the Simulants with copied human brains evolved into different personalities than that of their copies, it’s still not manmade intelligence, but rather an evolution of existing human brain waves and patterns. Not artificial by any means.
Why Can’t Or Doesn’t Nomad Just Destroy The AI Threat Right Away?
Image via 20th Century Studios
The Creator ending heavily focuses on the need to destroy the Nomad. The massive battle station humans created to protect humanity against the AI thread. The station boasts a lot of offensive capabilities. And it’s so formidable in the war against AI, that the movie mentions that there is no defence against Nomad for the AI. So why doesn’t Nomad just kill all AI from a distance? The movie opens with Nomad’s giant lasers scanning an area for AI threats before a special team infiltrates an AI camp. Firstly, those giant lasers are not stealthy at all and anyone can see from miles away, so I’m not sure how AI insurgents don’t just evacuate anytime they see a flashing laser scan. They literally announce their arrival with giant beams of light in the darkness of night.
But another issue is why Nomad doesn’t just target and take out all AI they encounter. Why send ground troops if they already know the ‘bad guys’ location, and can just nuke it instead? There’s a scene where Nomad targets and nukes an AI base, while a lone boat full of AI soldiers is on its way to the same base. They destroy the base, but the boat, clearly visible in the lake, is left alone. Nomad can’t scan the boat on its way to the base they just destroyed to see if there are any other AI or AI sympathizers onboard? It’s a baffling choice the writers make that makes no sense.
Why Is The Identity Of The Creator Such A Secret?
Image via 20th Century Studios
The biggest thing that doesn’t make sense about The Creator ending is why no one knows who created AI in the first place. The video reel package at the beginning of the movie implies that robotic and AI technology was seemingly developed at a time that looks like the 50s. Maybe 60s? So the world should clearly know the person, group of scientists or Corporation that created AI. Kind of like Miles Dyson in the Terminator franchise, as the person most responsible for creating Skynet, the AI threat in those movies. It’s not like it’s been generations or hundreds of years have passed since AI tech’s invention, and the war destroyed all physical records of the past, making it difficult to track down the person who made AI in the first place.
And what even makes the Creator such a threat anyway? It’s not like the Creator is one person mass-producing soldiers for the war. If AI technology is sentient and self-sufficient, what is the purpose of the Creator? Especially when we see facilities that are actually building Simulants and robots when Joshua goes to visit his friend. Why are those facilities not the target of Nomad or the Americans, instead of this mysterious singular person? This becomes even more apparent in the climax when we get the revelation that the actual Nirmata or Creator is Maya (Gemma Chan), who’s been in a coma for the last 5 years. So clearly, the Creator has had literally no impact on this war, for better or for worse, negating any significance the Americans have attached to her.
The Creator Ending All Of A Sudden Cares About AI?
Image via 20th Century Studios
After Alphie and Joshua’s capture in The Creator ending, the government needs Joshua again. Why? Because somehow, they can’t seem to kill Alpha because she won’t let anyone come close to her. So they need Joshua’s help to get close to her to shut her down humanely using an EMP since she trusts him. They say they want to do this as it’s more humane, and less painful than their alternative methods. Why does the US government all of a sudden care about humanely eliminating Alphie?
They just spent the entire movie indiscriminately shooting and killing humans, blowing up AI bases with nuclear weapons, and so much more— but all of a sudden they care about humanely killing, what they’ve been claiming is the biggest threat to humans. And especially more baffling is that just a few scenes ago, Alphie was shot in the shoulder and thought to be in danger. But now that she’s strapped down in a room, they somehow are unable to destroy her? Ultimately The Creator ending, and the rest of its story seem like poorly thought-out ideas and concepts slapped together from other science fiction formulas. Without any thought or consideration to how they hold up in this particular world with the story they created. It’s like when a student copies their classmate’s personal journal assignment but forgets to change the name to their own.
The Creator is in theatres now.
What did you think about all these inconsistencies in The Creator and its ending? Let me know if I just missed something in the comments below. Or reach out to me on X (Twitter) at @theshahshahid to discuss more.
