Just a wee rant!
This is motivated by two things
- Trying to highlight an injustice
- Identifying a teaching moment
In 2023 an incredibly gifted director made and released an amazing sci-fi film.
Gareth Edwards made “The Creator” This film is an “Original” film as the story idea came from Gareth Edwards and the script was written by Gareth Edwards and Chris Weitz. This is not based on a novella, novel, comic book, toy line, old movie or TV show.
It is a sci-fi movie written and made by a true fan of the genre.
The Creator explores the morality surrounding Artificial intelligence, Has this been covered in film as a topic before? Yes. Is it more relevant than ever? Yes.
Is production design mindful of the sci-fi movie genre? Yes, it is a sci-fi movie.
Are there elements in the film that are obvious nods to great sci-fi films from the past? Yes. This is due to the cinema literacy of the director.
This film pulls no punches and has breathtaking special effects as well as wonderful actors giving awesome performances.
It was also made for $80m which Gareth made sure was all up on the screen it is flawless and it looks like $150m+
Tragically this made a loss at the box office!
Even though people say all we get is comic book movies and sequels and reboots and then they ignore this.
Early criticism levelled at this film by vocal people online is that it’s “Unoriginal” or they even used the word “Derivative”.
This leads me to the teaching moment.
Derivative
Imitative of the work of another artist, writer etc… and usually disapproved of for that.
Or “something which is based on another source.”
Which The Creator most definitely is not.
Even though I do have my suspicions over the motivations of a vocal community on the internet being massively negative about any sci-fi or fantasy film starring an African American leading man!
But a great teaching moment for anyone is if you want to see what a “Derivative” sci-fi film looks like just watch “Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire” on Netflix.
Universally panned by every critic I trust and when I first saw the trailer my first thought was “Christ that looks like star wars and dune mixed together then made with a budget from the Sifi channel” a critic has described Rebel Moon as “Completely devoid of any original thought” that says it all I think.
Have I watched it? No. Do I have to? No.
I am not a critic and I don’t have to watch anything I don’t want to.
But! If by any chance anyone who has publicly used the word Derivative about “The Creator” must now watch this “Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire” and then sit and think about what they have done.
