The Creator: Gareth Edwards’ Rogue One follow-up is being hailed as ‘one of 2023’s best movies’

‘Profound’ new film is being called ‘a masterpiece’

Gareth Edwards has directed “one of the best films of the year”, according to initial reactions to his new movie.

The filmmaker, whose previous credits include Monsters and Godzilla, is on the cusp of releasing The Creator, a science-fiction thriller starring Tenet actor John David Washington and Gemma Chan.

It’s Edwards‘s first film since his Star Wars prequel, Rogue One, was released in 2016.

The Creator, which also stars Ken Watanabe and Allison Janney, is set in a dystopian world in which the human race is in a war against artifical intelligence.

It follows Washington’s ex-special forces agent, Joshua, who is recruited to kill the creator of a mysterious weapon that has the power to end the war by destroying mankind.

On Monday (18 September), the film had its first screening for critics, who swiflty shared ther verdicts on X/Twitter.

That Hashtag Show's Hunter Bolding compared the film to sci-fi heavyweights Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Alien and Star Wars, stating: “Gareth Edwards doesn’t miss with The Creator. It’s easily among the best films of the year.”

Critic Courtney Howard called The Creator "profound on every level" and "one of the best original sci-fi epics in years", while Film Speak host Griffin Schiller described Edwards's film as "a masterful piece of original sc-fi".

Screen Rant writer Joseph Deckelmeier concurred that The Creator is "one of the year's best movies", also branding it "a masterpiece".

Find more reactions to the film below.

The Creator, which Edwards co-wrote with Chris Weitz, is in cinemas on 29 September.

Edwards’s Rogue One is considered by many to be one of the best Star Wars spin-offs since Disney relaunched the franchise with JJ Abrams’s The Force Awakens in 2015.

Rogue One starred Felicity Jones and Diegu Luna, and grossed over $1bn in 2016.

Luna reprised his role of Cassian Andor for an standalone series, which was released to acclaim on Disney+ in 2022.