10 Best Movies Like The Creator

It is rare for there to be big-budget original sci-fi movies in theaters these days, and while it didn’t become a box office success, there are many fans looking for movies like The Creator. Gareth Edwards’ latest movie takes place in a futuristic world where Western civilization has declared war on AI. The fictional nation of New Asia combats the efforts to eradicate AI. An ex-special forces agent, Joshua (John David Washington), is tasked with traveling to New Asia and destroying a new AI weapon.

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The Creator explores ideas about humanity’s relationship with AI, debuting at a time when its core theme couldn’t be more relevant. The story uses science fiction as a medium to explore themes about empathy and what it means to be sentient and human. This is a story that’s been explored in Hollywood before. The Creator also features well-worn elements of the story of a protector looking after a child in a dangerous world. This has led to many great movies like The Creator, some of which directly inspired Edwards’ movie.

10 Blade Runner (1982)

Ridley Scott’s Hugely Influential Sci-Fi Saga

Blade Runner's Deckard with a gun

One of the best science-fiction movies of all time, Blade Runner is the most obvious next stop for fans of The Creator. The film is set in a future in which android “replicants” are used to do labor only for some of them to gain independence and seek out a life outside of servitude. When these replicants go rogue, law enforcement agents known as blade runners, hunt them down to terminate them.

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Ridley Scott’s 1982 film is massively influential on the science fiction genre, having popularized a cyberpunk aesthetic that’s used in video games, anime, and other mediums. Speaking to Far Out Magazine, Edwards cited Blade Runner as one of his primary inspirations for creating a visually stunning backdrop. Rutger Hauer’s Roy Batty makes for one of the most compelling genre villains of all time, while Harrison Ford’s Deckard mirrors Joshua’s arc of empathy for these artificially intelligent beings.

9 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)

Gareth Edwards Steps Into The Star Wars Universe

K-2SO looking forward and walking in Rogue One

The Creator is not the only sci-fi story Gareth Edwards has explored as he was also at the helm of the first Star Wars spinoff movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The film serves as a prequel to A New Hope, following a band of rebel soldiers who seek to steal the plans for the Death Star weapon in order to give themselves a chance to fight back against the powerful Empire.

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Edwards has mentioned his great affection for
Star Wars
, and he’s cited the design of the original trilogy as one of his chief inspirations for
The Creator
.

While Godzilla and Monsters have great shots, Rogue One sees Edwards working with his highest budget, bringing to life bright and beautiful worlds. Edwards has mentioned his great affection for Star Wars, and he’s cited the design of the original trilogy as one of his chief inspirations for The Creator. However, there are similarities between the design of The Creator and that of Rogue One as they both feel like war movies placed into this sci-fi setting. It is an immersive aesthetic that works in both cases.

8 Ex Machina (2014)

Alex Garland’s Fascinating AI Thriller

Ex Machina promo poster featuring programmer Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb Smith, Alicia Vikander as the robot Ava, and Oscar Isaac as billionaire Nathan Bateman.

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Directed by Alex Garland and produced by A24, Ex Machina is one of the most popular sci-fi films of the 2010s. The film follows a programmer named Caleb, who is brought to the private estate of his company’s CEO, where he’s shown a humanoid robot named Ava. Caleb is prompted to interact with Ava and judge whether she’s capable of consciousness.

While it doesn’t have the heavy action of The Creator, Ex Machina features similar themes and ideas. Ex Machina explores the complicated relationship between human beings and AI, as well as the potential consequences of further developing AI. It also explores the hubris of humans to create such a thing and then become angry when they want more than to just serve humanity. The design of Ava, effortlessly combining a human performance with a synthetic appearance, feels very similar to the way the “simulants” in The Creator appear.

7 Children Of Men (2006)

A Man Protects A Young Woman With An Important Secret

Man holding his stomach on a boat in Children of Men
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Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men is one of the most iconic sci-fi films of the 21st century. Set in a grim world that’s been ruined by environmental issues and war, infertility has become an existential threat. Clive Owen stars as Theo, a man who is brought into a secret operation to help transport a young woman across the dangerous landscape of this future. The importance of the mission becomes clear when Theo learns the woman is pregnant — carrying the first child humanity has seen in decades.

Children of Men
also feels like an inspiration for
The Creator’
s attempt to build a lived-in sci-fi world.

The premise of a reluctant hero transporting a young girl through the dangerous dystopian world obviously has ties to the central premise of The Creator. There is also an interesting parallel between The Creator‘s Alphie and Children of Men’s Kee as they will change the world simply by existing, but they don’t necessarily want the responsibility. Children of Men also feels like an inspiration for The Creator’s attempt to build a lived-in sci-fi world.

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6 Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Arnold Schwarzenegger Becomes The Protector In James Cameron’s Sequel

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the T-800 in Terminator 2.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day subverts expectations while becoming another sci-fi movie about a warrior protecting a young child. Taking place years after the events of the first installment, John Connor has been born and is now a rebellious youth while his mother, Sarah Connor is in a psychiatric facility. When an advanced Terminator is sent back in time to kill John, he finds that a second Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has been sent back by John himself in the future to protect his younger self.

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While humans are at war with AI in The Creator, the film explores the complexity of the issue, a discussion that’s highly prevalent through the ending of Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Sarah Connor mirrors Joshua’s arc, having a complete distrust and hatred for machines in the beginning, only to come to respect the T-800. In addition to sharing similar themes with The Creator, the first two Terminator movies are just incredible sci-fi action features that are must-watch materials for those who enjoy the genre.

5 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Stanley Kubrick’s Early Exploration Of AI

A spaceman in a hallway in 2001 A Space Odyssey

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most important science-fiction movies ever made. The expansive and epic movie deals with the first contact humanity has with an alien life as a monolith is discovered, which leads to a crew of astronauts heading out into space to investigate its origins, while joined by their AI computer HAL-9000.

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While its pacing is slower than what modern film fans might be used to, it’s an essential film that everyone should watch at least once. The influence of 2001 is everywhere in science fiction and pop culture, from the space sequences in early Star Wars to the opening scene in Barbie. Most notably for fans of The Creator, 2001’s HAL-9000 character is one of the earliest and most prominent explorations of AI in cinema.

4 Akira (1988)

A Young Gang Leader Protects His Friend From The Government

Characters looking surprised in Akira

Akira is one of the most well-known anime movies in the West and Gareth Edwards drew inspiration from the animated classic for The Creator. While Akira doesn’t explore AI, it shares similar stylistic choices and ideas, such as a newly formed Eastern nation following a devastating blast, satellite weapons firing blue beams down on Earth, and super-powered children. Akira is set in a futuristic world where science is seeing great progress, but that progress is primarily helping bureaucratic and wealthy bodies.

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It is another fascinating and well-built sci-fi world the audience can become engrossed in. There is also a central relationship that mirrors that of Joshua and Alphie in The Creator. While Kaneda is told that his best friend, Tetsuo, has become a powerful and dangerous telepathic threat, he refuses to abandon his friend and fights back against the military who are trying to destroy him.

3 Soylent Green (1973)

A Detective Investigates A Conspiracy In The Dystopian Future

Conveyor belt in Soylent Green

The Creator is one of many sci-fi movies that explores the desperation humanity is pushed to in the difficult future and how that desperation can lead to a loss of humanity. One of the most famous movies to explore this idea is Soylent Green. The film follows an NYPD detective (Charlton Heston) in a dystopian, futuristic world where the natural resources have run dry. People are reliant on mass-produced, factory-made wafers of different colors and unknown ingredients for their food, with the latest being “Soylent Green.

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The film explores a ravaged society and ideas of government conspiracy, much like The Creator, which critiques the U.S. government. Heston’s hero is much like Joshua in The Creator as he begins the story as a man who accepts the world for what it is only to find his beliefs and assumptions challenged throughout the story, all leading to one of the most famous twist endings in movie history.

2 A Perfect World (1993)

An Outlaw Forms A Bond With The Young Boy He Kidnapped

Kevin Costner with a young boy on his back in A Perfect World.

A Perfect World is not a sci-fi movie, but it was mentioned by Edwards, along with Rain Man, as a narrative inspiration for The Creator. The 1993 film, which stars Kevin Costner and Clint Eastwood, sees Costner playing an escaped prisoner who kidnaps a young boy. The prisoner and his captive travel across the U.S., forming an unexpected bond.

Like Joshua, Costner’s outlaw serves as a protector of sorts but also one with a sense of danger to him.

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For viewers of The Creator who were interested in the relationship between Joshua and Alphie, A Perfect World will make a solid follow-up. Like Joshua, Costner’s outlaw serves as a protector of sorts but also one with a sense of danger to him. Costner gives one of his best performances in the role as he is on the run, but also wants to mentor the young boy and teach him aspects of life he has not yet learned. The journey of the mismatched pair while being pursued feels similar to that connection between Joshua and Alphie in The Creator.

1 The Road (2009)

A Father Protects His Son In The Post-Apocalyptic World

Viggo Mortensen as Man traveling along a road with Boy in The Road.

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Like A Perfect World, The Road is a film with a similar relationship to the one between Joshua and Alphie in The Creator. Based on the novel by Cormac McCarthy, The Road follows a father and son in a post-apocalyptic world, surviving and scavenging on their journey toward the sea. As they encounter one danger after another, the father does all he can to protect his son but also struggles with the idea of not letting him become victim to the horrors that surround them.

The world of The Road is much more grim than society in The Creator, but it’s one of the best examples of stories that show the importance of family and companionship in dark times. It is an unpleasant and bleak existence, but there is always genuine love between the boy and his father.

Source: Far Out Magazine

The Creator Movie Poster

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9/10 The Creator PG-13Action Sci-FiDrama

The Creator is a sci-fi action film from Rogue One director Gareth Edwards. Edwards wrote and directed the movie, which centers on the human race’s war against AI. In the post-apocalyptic world, Joshua (John David Washington) is tasked with finding and killing the architect of the dangerous AI and the mysterious weapon they are developing.

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*Availability in US Release Date September 29, 2023 Runtime 123 minutes Cast John David Washington , Gemma Chan , Ken Watanabe , Sturgill Simpson , Allison Janney , Madeleine Yuna Voyles Director Gareth Edwards