THE CREATOR
(12A) 135mins
★★★☆☆
HUMANS are the worst, right? With our desire to rule the world, start wars and, oh, blow up the planet.
But what if there was another breed of human who tried to destroy us all, for the good of the world?
This is the idea behind The Creator, where artificial intelligence has created the super-continent of New Asia.
It’s 2070 and androids have evolved to look, sound and feel like real people, apart from a mechanical hole in their ear.
Futuristic wonder
In the opening moments of the film we discover that AI has learned to cook our meals, chauffeur us around and take care of our lives.
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But AI becomes a threat and the robots soon decide to set off a nuclear bomb in Los Angeles, killing a million people. So they’re not all good.
The US is trying to eradicate the AI problem and calls on the skills of ex-Special Forces agent Joshua, played by Tenet actor John David Washington.
He needs to track down the creator of New Asia, an elusive AI.
Soon Joshua finds that a small AI child, Alphie (Madeleine Yuna Voyles), may hold the key to the sudden disappearance of his pregnant wife Maya (Gemma Chan).
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Directed and written by master of sci-fi, Rogue One’s Gareth Edwards, there’s a lot to admire.
The tech is to die for. Not just impressive, but will often have you muttering “but how?” during the mass AI scenes.
It is shot in an incredible 80 locations around the world and the team, including cinematographer Greig Fraser, create a futuristic wonder that you don’t want to look away from. However, what it achieves visually, it doesn’t manage emotionally.
The characters often feel hollow and we are asked to care about relationships that have only played out for a few seconds before they are ripped away.
The story is something of a jumble, with the first hour being a tale of a man reluctantly caring for a child with superpowers.
It then rushes into some serious bonding between the two — and then into space and full-blown war.
The humans are also disappointingly two dimensional, waging war wherever they go with little-to-no back story or readable emotions.
It is a visual feast without the feels.
SAW X
(18) 118mins
★★★★☆
OF all the movie villains to avoid ending up on the wrong side of, John Kramer is at the very top of the list.
Jigsaw is back and more barbaric than ever in Saw X, a film that should cement Tobin Bell’s legacy among the horror genre’s greatest actors.
Set a few weeks after the franchise’s first gruesome game, John is furious after being told he has “months to live” because he has “a lot of work to do”.
While putting his affairs in order, he discovers an experimental treatment in Mexico that promises to cure his brain cancer for $250,000.
But days after surgery John discovers it was a con and seeks his most ruthless revenge to date, alongside protege Amanda Young, who survived a “reverse bear trap” in Saw I.
Prepare to squirm and scream as the fraudsters face sawing off their own limbs, ripping out brain matter and lopping off large chunks of flesh to “prove” their willingness to survive.
Saw X is hands (tied) down the best instalment from the franchise in years thanks to deviously demented twists, gore galore and a surprisingly hearty helping of humour.
- Josh Saunders
FAIR PLAY
(18) 113mins
★★★★☆
SOMETIMES you are not prepared for what a film has to deliver.
This is exactly the feeling with this erotic thriller that gives you a firm slap around the face in the first scene to get you enthralled.
Written and directed by Chloe Domont, it weaves a dark tale of ambitious hedge fund analysts Emily (Phoebe Dynevor) and Luke (Alden Ehrenreich), who have not disclosed their relationship to their cut-throat company.
They ferociously fancy each other and enjoy many passionate clinches, clearly getting off on the secret element of their liaison.
But when Emily is made Luke’s boss, life unravels.
As the friction between them grows, you ask if their relationship was driven by kink not kindness. Exploring the very fine line between love and hate, this sexy, dark drama shines a light on evil corporate culture, with excessive drink, drugs and bonuses.
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Eddie Marsan is perfect as the practically silent boss-from-hell and Dynevor gives an excellent turn as the leading lady.
A cracking passion killer, in cinemas now and on Netflix from October 6.
FILM NEWS
- THE London Film Festival kicks off on October 4 with director Emerald Fennell’s Saltburn.
- THE Kitchen, featuring football’s Ian Wright, will close the festival.
- ALSO showing is Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
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