John’s Horror Corner: Invaders from Mars (1986), a “hard PG” family-friendly Sci-Horror classic.
MY CALL: This movie holds so much nostalgia for me—so I’m pretty biased. I’ve loved it since the late 80s! It’s a kid-friendly, generally bloodless horror that still packs some good creature effects and Sci-Fi concepts. MORE MOVIES LIKE Invaders from Mars: For a bit more blood in your 80s Sci-Horror, try Night of the Creeps (1986), Critters (1986), The Stuff (1985) and The Blob (1988).
Our young hero David (Hunter Carson) is a wholesome preteen with wholesome parents. He leads a simple, happy life until one night he witnesses a huge gnarly spaceship landing in the countryside. The next morning his father is behaving very strangely and has an odd wound on the back of his neck. Soon more people in the town are acting strangely just like David’s father, especially those who go investigate where this spaceship allegedly landed.
David has adult-like agency and it’s painfully obvious who is under brainwashed mind control and who isn’t. Perhaps that’s the PG-ness of the movie, making it more kid-friendly. The controlled adults do normal everyday things… but they do them wrong. They burn bacon and toast, drink coffee “wrong”, eat burgers “wrong”, and generally seem “off.” David’s parents want him to come to “see something” in the countryside. Sure, they do.
The weird behavior continues when David catches his teacher Mrs. McKeltch (Louise Fletcher; Shadowzone Firestarter, Exorcist II, Virtuosity, Grizzly II) eating a frog—a classically funny visual. McKeltch becomes very aggressive towards David, who is protected by the still unbrainwashed school nurse Linda (Karen Black; Children of the Night, It’s Alive III, House of 1000 Corpses, Mirror Mirror, Night Angel). The number of people that can be trusted in town is diminishing fast! Even his cute little classmate Heather (Virginya Keehne; Ticks, The Dentist) becomes an obvious alien-controlled enemy.
Eventually, David locates and investigates the underground cavernous lair created by the aliens. Here we find different alien castes: larger, lumbering workers and an Emperor Krang-like brain-shaped overlord. Some of the workers even have laser guns mounted on them. Trying to save humanity, David turns to General Wilson (James Karen; Return of the Living Dead I-II, Poltergeist, The Unborn, The Willies, Girlfriend from Hell) and NASA.
The monstrous creature effects are good, fun, and decent quality. No one gets killed (at least, not violently). So there are no death scenes to discuss other than a bloodless incineration. Although an alien death results in throwing some rubber guts in front of the camera for a giggle, and someone does get eaten by a worker alien in a kind of silly scene. The alien lair raid is a lot like a proto-Starship Troopers bug extermination. The workers shake and scuttle like Muppets when they’re being machine-gunned down.
A remake of the 1953 classic of the same name, this is much lighter fare for director Tobe Hooper (Lifeforce, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II, Poltergeist, Funhouse). For all its softer PG-ness, I still enjoy this movie. This is more of a thrilling adventure/Sci-Horror with a kid hero than horror.
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The Witch: Part 2: The Other One (2022; aka, Manyeo 2: Lo go), another wild Korean action movie.
MY CALL: A neat, wild action movie that simply doesn’t live up to its predecessor and transforms a bit too much into sparkling Twilight Anime from its once dire and gritty source material. MORE MOVIES LIKE The Witch 1-2: For more brutal superhuman action, take a stab at Lucy(2014), Upgrade (2018) or The Night Comes for Us (2018).
Whether bleak shots of a student-filled school bus traversing a remote war zone, or the stark contrast of a blood-caked bare foot stepping into immaculate snow, the director of photography is serving us well in complementing the film’s tone at every opportunity. The cinematography is breathe-taking.
After Koo Ja Yoon’s (Da-mi Kim; The Witch: Part 1) fist-splattering finale of part 1, Jang (Lee Jong-Suk) emerges the lone survivor among the Witch project experimental subjects. She crosses paths with Kyung Hee (Park Eun-bin), a pregnant woman recently kidnapped.
This sequel differs from part 1 in that now many people have superpowers. People are kicked and thrown with jolting power launching them 50 feet away, and little girls throw grown men with one arm like Superman. The physics-defiance is strong, but boy is it fun to watch.
Still, somehow this feels much less engaging than part 1. Not uninteresting, just not as good—not nearly as good. But it has its moments. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of Kyung Hee’s brother showing Jang YouTube as she was entranced by videos of people eating food she didn’t know, and of Jang’s first visit to a grocery store and eating her way through the free samples like PacMan. Cute, funny scenes. I also enjoy the combat telekinesis gags. They look fantastic and they take many forms on screen.
The fights are initially more rare and less impactful. Not sure why that would be the case given part 1’s precedent, but it is. These fights feel way more Marvel, but in a bad way. The gritty charm just isn’t there anymore. The action is still pretty cool, but I am no longer awestruck as I was with part 1.
The next-generation new-and-improved Witch kids are like the sparkling Twilight vampires of this once dire world. They move like The Flash, they’re practically unkillable, and they’re annoyingly full of themselves. Thankfully, Jang is “even more” next gen, and makes short work of them. Jang is very much the Neo of the Witch program.
I enjoyed watching this but it was definitely vastly inferior to part 1 to such extent that I truly hope there will be no part 3. I prefer to imagine that part 1 is the movie to watch, recommend, and to which one should limit oneself.
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MY CALL: This was okay; a slightly above average horror anthology. I’m inclined to say V/H/S/94 (2021) was better and V/H/S/99 (2022) was way better.
MORE HORROR ANTHOLOGIES: Dead of Night (1945), Black Sabbath (1963), Tales from the Crypt (1972), The Vault of Horror (1973), The Uncanny (1977), Screams of a Winter Night (1979), Creepshow (1982), Screamtime (1983), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Stephen King’s Cat’s Eye (1985), Deadtime Stories (1986), Creepshow 2 (1987), From a Whisper to a Scream (1987; aka The Offspring), After Midnight (1989), Tales from the Crypt Season 1 (1989), Tales from the Darkside: The Movie (1990), Grimm Prairie Tales (1990), The Willies (1990), Two Evil Eyes (1990), Necronomicon: Book of the Dead (1993), Hellraiser: Bloodline (1996), Campfire Tales (1997), Dark Tales of Japan (2004), 3 Extremes (2004), Creepshow 3 (2006), Trick ‘r Treat (2007), Chillerama (2011), Little Deaths (2011), V/H/S (2012), The Theater Bizarre (2012), The ABCs of Death (2013), V/H/S 2 (2013), All Hallows’ Eve (2013), The Profane Exhibit (2013), The ABCs of Death 2 (2014), V/H/S Viral (2014), Southbound (2015), Tales of Halloween (2015), A Christmas Horror Story (2015), The ABCs of Death 2.5 (2016), Holidays (2016), Terrified (2017; aka Aterrados, a pseudo-anthology), Oats Studios, Vol. 1 (2017), Ghost Stories (2017), XX (2017), All the Creatures Were Stirring (2018), The Field Guide to Evil (2018), Nightmare Cinema (2018), Blood Clots (2018), Shudder’s series Creepshow (2019-2021), Scare Package (2019), The Mortuary Collection (2019), Xenophobia (2019), V/H/S/94 (2021), Netflix’s series Cabinet of Curiosities (2022) and V/H/S/99 (2022).
Swinging in on the coattails of the quite enjoyable horror-comedy anthology V/H/S/99 (2022), this 6th V/H/S anthology emerges as the least impressive of the recent three installments (i.e., 94, 99, 85). Still, this is a watchable, more often than not entertaining set of unlinked horror segments. Not only are these stories unlinked, but there is no wraparound story—and either of these tend to enrich these anthologies. However, one positive stylistic decision was that two of the segments (No Wake, Total Copy) are shown to us gradually wrapped around the other segments.
Featuring a rather eclectic mix of brutal gun violence, unconventional undeath, forgotten Mexican deities, tentacle monsters, VR demigods and all manner of murder, this movie brings a healthy dose of lower budget (but acceptable) gore, gashes, dismemberments, flesh-tearing and guts. So there’s that.
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No Wake (Director Mike P. Nelson; The Domestics, Wrong Turn)
A group of twentysomethings hit the lake for a day of beer and waterskiing. It’s all fun and flirting until an unseen shooter starts sniping them in the boat. Bullet after bullet, they fall one by one. There’s an excellent gore effect when someone’s jaw is nearly shot clean from their face leaving a dangling chonky mess! Wow.
After the slaughter, the twentysomething victims find themselves walking around when they should surely be dead. One with his brains blown out the back of his head, otherwise seems perfectly fine… just… upset about it.
This segment continues later in the movie with an entirely different and interesting chapter that I will not spoil. I’ll just say that this is the segment that makes this anthology worth watching (perhaps entirely on its own).
God of Death (Director Gigi Saul Guerrero; SlashFM, Trap House)
A Mexican news team endures an earthquake leaving only the cameraman alive. With a search and rescue team, they try to navigate the rubble of the now-dilapidated building’s hazards as more die.
They wander into some undiscovered subterranean ruins of an ancient God that demands tribute in blood. The blood and gore is maybe decent, but there’s a lot of it. In fact, this entire segment is rather a struggle to endure. It just felt toothless for me. The shoestring budget didn’t help.
Total Copy (Director David Bruckner; Hellraiser, V/H/S segment “Amateur Night”, Southbound segment “The Accident”, The Ritual)
A shapeshifting alien lifeform is the subject of learning-based experimentation under the eye of a team of scientists. They expose “Rory” to various media to see how he reacts.
Rory becomes a tentacled monster and attacks the scientists. The writhing monstrous mess becomes violent and kills more. Okay gore, neat creature effects. It ends on a very dark but funny note that closes the movie.
TKNOGD (Director Natasha Kermani; Lucky)
Not a fan. A one-woman show becomes an exploration of 1985 virtual reality technology in search of a “Techno-God.” She enters VR and taunts the network to show her their God. Artistic, but shallow; crass even.
The Techno-God does appear and it is not happy with its doubter, whom it violently punishes, flaying and dismembering her on-stage from the VR world. Some very nice gory visuals. But overall, not a satisfying segment.
Dreamkill (Director Scott Derickson; The Black Phone, Deliver Us from Evil, Sinister, Hellraiser: Inferno)
Detectives investigate a series of murders that they have already watched on videos from before the murders actually occurred! Very bloody, gory and mean. Some truly brutal gunshot wounds. Like, wow.
Every now and then, random clips of 80sness are deliciously nostalgic. The clothes, the video clips, classic sound bites… I feel the movie missed an opportunity in adding more. But that was also my overall impression, that this movie missed an opportunity (in most of its segments). Often the problem was budget. But I truly had trouble getting interested (at all) in Dreamkill, TEKNOGD and God of Death until the gore kicked into high gear. The ideas are all good ideas, but I cannot find their inspiration being properly realized on-screen as I did with No Wake, the belle of this anthology’s ball.
Still, I’ll take every V/H/S movie I can get. So many interesting ideas to be shared.
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John’s Horror Corner: No One Will Save You (2023), this jumpy, high-paced, popcorn Sci-Horror has not a dull moment.
MY CALL: If you think “story” is overrated and just want all the alien abduction, tractor beams and telekinesis without wasting a moment of dialogue to explain what’s going on or why, then this is your movie. A simple, straightforward, high energy, popcorn horror delight. MORE MOVIES LIKE No One Will Save You: For more feisty Sci-Horror, consider Extraterrestrial (2014), Psycho Goreman (2020), Snatchers (2019), Grabbers (2012) and Kids vs Aliens (2022)—all of which are also much more gory than today’s reviewed movie.
Things for a small-town social pariah get exciting when aliens invade her small town. We don’t know what Brynn (Kaitlyn Dever; Monsterland) did. But we see that a lot of the townsfolk sure do hate her for whatever it was. And hate is the key word.
This feisty alien invasion movie wastes no time diving into the home-spelunking fun. And while there’s nothing “funny” about this movie, the pacing feels a lot like going through a haunted house with your friends. You smile and press your back into your sit, braced for the next jump.
In style, I’d say it owes a lot to Signs (2002) in its utilization of exploratory sounds as aliens poke around the house as well as the alien’s own biological sound emissions. We also see things strongly reminiscent of Independence Day (1996), Dark Skies (2013) and The Hidden (1987)—a veritable cornucopia of Sci-Fi influences abound with nothing feeling overtly “copied.”
There’s some telekinetic poltergeist gags that take a while to find their footing. At first, I didn’t like this at all. But eventually the gag was better utilized. Despite this criticism, the domestic cat and mouse antics were generally energized. Good pacing, and a good level of action.
Brynn is trapped and isolated by an alien EMG attack, disabling all electrical components in her isolated house and car. Moreover, these aliens seem to have somehow possessed or mentally dominated several townsfolk as well. When Brynn encounters them, they charge at her like rage zombies. Aware that she is on her own, Brynn prepares to defend herself against the next domestic raid. Most attempts to infiltrate her home and, presumably, abduct her have transpired at night.
This movie isn’t great from a writing perspective. But it’s really entertaining. Things just keep happening to poor Brynn. Human drone assaults, skirmishes with aliens of various shapes, scrambling around the house, tractor beam gags, some clone stuff, more telekinesis tossing furniture around and breaking stuff, lots of chasing, revisiting Brynn’s past trauma, squirmy alien parasites, lots of spaceships doing spaceship things…. there’s hardly a dull moment.
Brynn is a real scrapper; clearly the Ash Williams of her town. When she finds a victory, you root hard for her. But poor Brynn gets dragged through wreckage or telekinetically crashed through walls to achieve any small victory. And despite seeing many of the townsfolk, Kaitlyn Dever carries this film like a one woman show.
Writer and director Brian Duffield (Spontaneous) delivers a hefty dose of high-paced jumpy entertainment with this Hulu original horror movie. If you want something fun and mindless, but not necessarily dumb or campy or schlocky, this is a good popcorn horror movie recommendation.
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John’s Horror Corner: Hideaway (1995), the Jeff Goldblum horror movie you never knew existed.
MY CALL: Great cast. Super cheesy CGI effects. Not the best writing. I’m not recommending this. But as a broad film fan it was really cool seeing a Jeff Goldblum thriller-horror I’d never heard of that also features a pre-Clueless (1994) Jeremy Sisto and Alicia Silverstone. MORE MOVIES LIKE Hideaway: For more 90s thrillers with thematic crossing-over themes, consider Unforgettable (1996), Body Parts (1991), and Flatliners (1990).
Adapted from Dean Koontz’ original story, Brett Leonard (Virtuosity, The Lawnmower Man, The Dead Pit) brings his best Lawnmower Man CGI effects game as a teen Jeremy Sisto sacrifices himself to the Dark Lord and his soul is shredded in what I can only describe as a “90s computer game Hellscape.” How’s that for a cold open?
After an essentially fatal car accident, father and husband Hatch (Jeff Goldblum; Mr. Frost, The Fly, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) is revived in the emergency room with an experimental drug. Grateful to for his second chance at life, Hatch soon discovers the cost comes in the form of strange waking visions including murdering young girls and building a Satanic scaffolding monolith from scrap metal… because, why not, right?
Hatch had begun to cross to the other side when he was dying, and when his doctor saved him, something ‘came back’ with him. Something that doesn’t belong. And as Hatch comes to learn this and seeks to hunt the origin of this evil force down; the evil likewise senses Hatch. By the way, this evil is apparently Jeremy Sisto! By all accounts he should be dead… but, then the movie said “nope, not dead” so now he’s free to murder people, I guess.
Likewise fresh on way to the fame of Clueless (1995), Alicia Silverstone (Alicia Silverstone; The Lodge, The Crush) plays Hatch’s teenage daughter Regina. Rounding out the cast, Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark) plays his savior doctor and Christine Lahti plays his wife.
This very much feels like a TV movie that pushes the envelope when it comes to on-screen murder. The blood and gashes are nothing particularly gory. But they get the point across. Still, I find this R-rated thriller more like a quasi-thrilling TV-MA show whose entire season I don’t think I’d finish.
In the end, CGI computer game Satan comes to reclaim his escaped fugitive soul (Jeremy Sisto) and the colorful blob of hideous CGI-gasm was, well, actually hilariously bad. That was definitely the best/worst part of this movie.
It was fun seeing a Jeff Goldblum movie I’d somehow never heard of… but now that this is behind me, so is this movie. Not recommended.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 524: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Edgar Wright and Garbage Trucks
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Niall (@elniallo on X) discuss the 2010 action comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Directed by Edgar Wright, and starring Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Brie Larson and about 3,000 other cool actors, the movie focuses on what happens when a slacker learns something. In this episode, they also talk about movie soundtracks, gold coins, and Toronto. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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John’s Horror Corner: Subspecies V: Bloodrise (2023), the franchise prequel I never wanted.
MY CALL: I really loved the Subspecies franchise. Yet this sequel just left a bad taste in my mouth. The budget limitations are woefully apparent, and the movie forces this bad budget upon viewers with poor judgment. It hurt me writing this review. MORE MOVIES LIKE Subspecies V: Hopefully you saw Subspecies (1991), Subspecies II (1993), and perhaps Subspecies III: Bloodlust (1994; aka, Awakening). You could probably skip Subspecies 4: Bloodstorm (1998) altogether.
The child of a demoness and a vampire stolen by the church’s knights at birth, Radu (Anders Hove; Subspecies I-IV, Critters 4) has lived his life a crusader charged with dispatching the world of evils that may threaten the church. His missions deliver him, now an aged holy knight, to the castle of his infernal parents where he rescues Helena (Denice Duff; Subspecies II-IV, Night of the Living Dead 3D: Re-Animation) and her cursed halfbreed son. Amid his efforts to save Helena, Radu gives in to her fiendish temptations and finds himself a vampire. Now tormented with eternity, he learns to use the shadows and sorcery to his benefit.
The budget limitations of this prequel are woefully apparent. 1) Swordplay choreography is limited to one-take techniques combined into a choppy fight scene of quick cuts. But Anders Hove is getting old and no stuntman was used—so I say bravo for the effort. 2) The demoness mother’s mystical teleportation lacks any grace as she just blips in and out of sight. Truly, that’s just plain annoying. 3) The vampire Vladislav’s makeup leaves much to be desired. 4) The shadow-walking effects are very rough—not as good as in earlier movies. Really, if you’re going to do the exact same gag/effect as a previous franchise installment, it needs to be of at least comparable quality. Otherwise, just don’t do it! You’re “asking” the franchise fans to be disappointed. Feels like a rookie mistake.
As a huge fan of the franchise, I wanted to forgive these limitations and choose to celebrate that this movie was able to happen. But alas, the shortcomings are just too numerous, and too blaring. I kinda’ wish this movie never happened at all.
Moreover, the hunting (vampire prey) is totally phoned-in, the vampire attacks and bite scenes are also quite weak, the blood baptisms are sloppy and lack any impact or gravity, and the “training” of Radu’s servant vampires felt like empty peer pressure with added blood. This felt so empty. There was even a bloodless multi-stab vampire slaying. What gives? Why even make this movie?
Eventually Radu is reunited with his creator Helena and we suffer some lame “Queen of the Vampires” spiel as she tries to powerplay Radu and his offspring. Power struggles and vengeance ensue, but nothing satisfying comes of it beyond a momentary twisted neck gag which is not really shown to us enough on screen (i.e., the “twisting” is more implied than shown, we just get the hokey result).
I really loved the Subspecies franchise and director Ted Nicolaou (Subspecies I-IV, Terror Vision, Puppet Master vs Demonic Toys, Vampire Journals). Yet this sequel just left a bad taste in my mouth. It hurt me writing this review.
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John’s Horror Corner: Kids vs Aliens (2022), a fesity indie Sci-Horror-Comedy featuring delightfully likeable kid protagonists.
MY CALL: Not a broad recommendation, but I enjoyed it for what it was and appreciated its efforts to hit above its weight class. This fun and feisty movie is best recommended more for younger viewers newer to the genre, but who still want to see some really gross shenanigans. MORE MOVIES LIKE Kids vs Aliens: For more slimy, bloody and feisty Sci-Horror, consider Extraterrestrial (2014), Psycho Goreman (2020), Snatchers (2019) and Grabbers (2012).
Director Jason Eisener (The ABCs of Death, V/H/S 2) has proven in the past that he knows how to please his gorehound fans. Obviously cheap, decidedly silly, yet still also thoughtfully executed and ambitious for its budget, KvA hits above its weight class… sometimes. Yeah, the script is choppy and erratic. But we didn’t choose to watch KvA for the story development, did we? Rather we chose this movie hoping for something zany. And zany it most certainly is.
Our cast of protagonist preteens are aspiring filmmakers working on their own Sci-Action-Schlock flick riding Power Wheels, wearing dinosaur masks and foam-spiked football pads, wrestling (in-costume and in a barn wrestling ring!) and firing Nerf guns. Don’t knock it. When I was 12, this would have been the best day ever! Gary (Dominic Mariche; Are You Afraid of the Dark?), Jack (Asher Grayson; The Dogs) and Miles (Ben Tector) are sweet, likable kids and enjoy their schlock filming escapades with Gary’s teen sister Sam (Phoebe Rex; The Last Divide).
The neighborhood teen jerk Billy (Calem MacDonald; The Umbrella Academy) has a thing for Sam and talks her into having a raging Halloween party in her barn… which occurs during an alien invasion. The party rages, things get way out of hand, and kids get abducted by aliens.
It takes a while for the aliens to play a significant role in the movie. They look like classic “greys” with huge hands. Abducted kids are melted with pink goopy acidic slime, dowsed in green goopy alien vomit, and transformed into a gangly clawed Baraka-Freddy Krueger monster. These effects aren’t top shelf, but they are trying their best. As long as you wanted something silly and gross, this works.
The production shortcomings are most apparent in the writing, party scenes, and the aliens’ ship whose interior is like a cheap cavern set from 1960s-era Doctor Who. The movie shines brightest when the kids are having fun filmmaking, and goopy gross things are happening. Most of the action was pretty weak, but the movie definitely has spirit and tries hard for us.
The big downer is that the better-quality fun, gross, goopy gore is very limited to a couple scenes—not that there aren’t numerous minor bloody gore gags to be enjoyed as well. And sure, the movie has its silly charm to make up for some of its faults. But it’s really not enough to recommend this unless the recommendation is more for younger viewers newer to the genre.
As such, I may not broadly recommend this movie. But I enjoyed it for what it was and appreciated its efforts. Moreover, I’d really like to see what Eisener could do with a more workable budget!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 523: The Bad Times in Elevators Draft
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome.
Mark and Zanandi (@ZaNandi on X) draft their favorite movie moments that involve someone having a terrible time in an elevator. In this episode, you’ll hear them talk about the elevator scenes in The Shining, North by Northwest, Evil Dead Rise, Resident Evil and Final Destination 2. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions (we love random questions). We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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The Creator (2023) – Review
Poster courtesy of Getty Images
Quick thoughts – Grade – B+ – The Creator is bursting with life and features some of the best visuals of 2023. Between Monsters, Godzilla, Rogue One and The Creator, Gareth Edwards is a master of scale and I love his commitment to creating larger than life visuals that linger in your memory.
My favorite thing about Gareth Edwards is that he understands scale and knows how to make big things look really big on screen. There are moments in Godzilla (Godzilla swimming with the aircraft carriers), Rogue One (the Star Destroyer over Jedha City) and Monsters (the creatures appear next to the gas station) that put a big smile on my face, and the same thing happens in The Creator. Writing about the plot is tough because it’s a movie littered with moments that shouldn’t be mentioned here. However, I do love that Edwards shot on location in Thailand, and according to him they filmed on “the eighth highest mountain in the world in the Himalayas.” It’s because of the on location work that everything looks real and lived in. He may have only made this film to keep himself safe during a hypothetical AI attack (a joke he makes), but you can see all of his influences and he has no problem calling them out. What Edwards wants to do with The Creator is bring back the sweeping sci-fi epic that he used to watch as a kid.
Since it’s a film by Edwards, the movie focuses on a dangerous road trip that involves lots of explosions, gun fights, and AI creations that explode during gunfights. At the center of everything is Joshua (John David Washington) a former soldier who is recruited by the mysterious Colonel Howell (Allison Janney) to destroy a secret weapon created by an elusive architect named the Creator. The assignment goes awry, and it leads to Joshua and a young AI nicknamed Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles – very good) being chased by seemingly everyone on the planet. The neat thing about The Creator is that the AI is somewhere between Terminator and Her, it can be violent, but it is also capable of love. To write more would spoil the experience, just know that solid actors like Gemma Chan, Sturgill Simpson, Amar Chadha-Patel, and Ken Watanabe make the best of their screen time.
On top of the cool location work and gorgeous VFX, the cinematography by Greig Fraser (The Batman, Dune) and Oren Soffer is excellent. Soffer’s handheld work is inspired and it creates a 360-degree atmosphere that makes you feel like you’re in the action. Shot on a Sony FX3, the 2.76:1 ultra-wide aspect ratio gives the movie an epic feel and the high ISO allowed it to capture a lot of light while on location – which must’ve helped Soffer shoot later into the day. It’s a neat idea and it probably helped keep the budget down to a relatively low $80 million. Knowing that this movie only cost $80 million makes me like it more because it looks epic and feels epic. All of the money is seen on screen, and I really hope that people will turn out to watch the ambitious movie.
Final Thoughts – Watch it. Enjoy it. It’s an original film that feels familiar but is well worth your time.
Movies, Films & Flix 