Humans hunt terminators in The Creator, an overly solemn attempt to blend two perfect 80s sci-fi masterpieces into a new robots-on-the-run action movie. If you squint, you'll spot references to Bladerunner's melancholy replicants and James Cameron's Skynet. None of it works, but you'll want it to.
In the future, the U.S. military is waging a global war on artificial intelligence, which means dropping nukes on androids from orbit. David Washington is a commanding, wounded hero. His character has every right to hate A.I. until he meets their secret weapon: a child. The main villain is a maniac colonel played by Allison Janney ( inspired casting).
Gareth Edwards directed the second best of Disney's Star Wars movies, Rogue One, and in The Creator, he shows what he can do with half the budget—faces powered by gears, space stations lurking like buzzards. Gorgeous explosions. But the spectacle and the philosophy never harmonize.