A lot of what we’ve seen from Rogue One director Gareth Edwards’ new sci-fi film The Creator has put a focus on the human-A.I. conflict at its core—but its final trailer puts more of that aside to focus on the bond between man and machine that is going to centre the futuristic whizzbang action.
That bond is between John David Washington’s special forces operative Joshua, and the surprising young face on the A.I. weapon of mass destruction he’s been hired to eliminate—in the form of a child (newcomer Madeleine Yuna Voyles). Throw in a missing-presumed-dead wife (Eternals’ Gemma Chan), and all the other robot-rights dystopia vibes, and you’ve got a tropey, if pretty looking stew going.
That’s not necessarily a knock on the movie, or at least from what we can tell of it in this footage—the sci-fi material looks cool from an aesthetic standpoint, a great near-future vibe that mixes clean high-tech structures and more grimy, lived-in robot aesthetics. It just remains to be seen if the film’s core can rise up to those visuals, and beyond a lot of the more predictable tropes it seems to have built it self up on.
The Creator hits theaters September 29.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.