Critical response
The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its visual effects, cinematography, action sequences and Edwards' direction, but criticized the writing and themes. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 67% of 324 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Visually stunning and packed with spectacular set pieces, The Creator serves up timely, well-acted sci-fi that satisfies in the moment even if it lacks substance." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 63 out of 100, based on 54 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled at PostTrak gave it an 81% overall positive score, with 61% saying they would definitely recommend the film.
Maggie Lovitt of Collider wrote: "The script might have glaring flaws and painfully ambiguous morals, but The Creator is a truly remarkable piece of original science fiction storytelling." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it: "an intriguing, stimulating, exhilarating movie, which really does address – with both head and heart – the great issue of our age, AI." Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood called it: "one of the most thought-provoking movies in some time, one to which attention must be paid."
Brian Truitt of USA Today described it as "a movie that makes you think about existence and the world around you, explodes your brain with cool visuals and sufficiently blows stuff up." Alex Godfrey of Empire called it: "An inspired, soulful piece of sci-fi, the endlessly stunning visuals all in service of a heartfelt, sensitive story. Gareth Edwards is the real deal — this is fantastic, enveloping cinema."
A.A. Dowd of IGN wrote: "As pure spectacle, The Creator is often jaw-dropping in its imagery, its relatively frugal special effects, and the detailed depth of its futuristic design. It's shakier as drama and sci-fi..."
Graeme Guttmann of Screen Rant wrote: "While the film's story may feel overstuffed and its action sequences repetitive at times, The Creator's bold vision and willingness to take risks make it a more exhilarating experience than safe, mediocre blockbusters."
Tomris Laffly of TheWrap called it "a film that works better as an allegory for acceptance rather than a warning against AI", and that "even if you can't look past such glaring miscalculations, The Creator will still feel like a visually fulfilling journey that had been worth taking in the aftermath. Nowadays, there is absolutely nothing like it out there."
Joey Magidson of Awards Radar wrote: "You've never seen anything quite like this movie, which is a saying that gets bandied about a lot, but is pretty apt here...There was potential for an instant classic movie. We're not quite there, but what we've got is still damn good," while naming it a frontrunner for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
Jake Cole of Slant praised the visual effects, writing: "The robots, which run a stylistic range from logical extrapolations of present-day models by companies like Boston Dynamics to the not-quite-perfect human simulacra of A.I. Artificial Intelligence, all look not only plausible but physically present." Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist called it "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."
Reviews were not uniformly positive. David Ehrlich of IndieWire described it as "A.I. Artificial Intelligence meets Children of Men" and wrote that "The most fundamental reason why The Creator, for all of its shortcomings and clichés, ultimately sold me on its optimism is that it succeeds as a blueprint where it fails as a movie." David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter was mixed, calling it a "baggy, sentimental sci-fi epic," while Peter Debruge of Variety thought that it "can hardly even keep its premise straight".
Mark Jenkins of The Washington Post wrote that the film "fails to develop the personalities and relationships that would give its central characters an affecting humanity." Jesse Hassenger of Paste wrote: "For a designated last great hope of original sci-fi, this is a surprisingly programmatic picture."
Rafael Motamayor of /Film called it "visually stunning" but "a predictable and dumbed-down story that feels like Edwards doing James Cameron's Avatar in terms of presenting bold worldbuilding and sci-fi ideas, but without the emotional resonance of that giant film. This is a very cool movie, but not necessarily a very good one." Glenn Whipp of the Los Angeles Times felt the film lacked originality, writing: "there's precious little in The Creator that feels fresh, particularly if you’ve seen one of the first two Terminator movies, watched The Last of Us or bought your kid (OK, yourself) a Baby Yoda plush toy."
Fionnuala Halligan of Screen International wrote that it "lacks the intellectual depth or ambition of the films it references - from Apocalypse Now to Blade Runner, The Terminator, Star Wars and beyond to the imagery of Kundun." Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times criticized the film's tone, and wrote: "Edwards pushes the relatable ordinariness of the androids and hybrid "simulants", but the potential menace of A.I. inescapably looms."
Richard Roeper of Chicago Sun-Times called it: "A great-looking but strange and mostly unsuccessful hybrid of futuristic sci-fi thrillers and Vietnam War films that combines elements of everything from District 9 to Blade Runner to Ex Machina to the Terminator franchise..."
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