The Creator’s Connection To Blade Runner Explained

The idea of an android being «more human than human» is primarily exemplified in «Blade Runner» with the character of Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer). He’s stronger, faster, and more intelligent than most humans, and in his famous soliloquy, he reflects on all he’s done and seen during his short life. With the line of how his memories «will be lost in time, like tears in rain,» the audience sees him develop empathy, an awareness of his inevitable death, and a recognition of the fleeting nature of life. He might as well be a human being at this point, and «The Creator» has several moments where the AI-driven robots are also more human than human.

When the American troops infiltrate New Asia in «The Creator,» they go to a small village, looking for information regarding the whereabouts of Nirmata, the creator of the AI. No one readily gives up any details, so a soldier takes a small dog and threatens to shoot it in front of a child. If there’s any way for a movie to get audiences to hate a character, it’s for them to threaten a dog’s life. 

The robots in «The Creator» are violent, too, but it’s done more in service of self-preservation. It doesn’t feel like an accident that a different dog appears later in the film and drops an explosive near a group of robot law enforcement. That dog also lives, but the robots don’t threaten it the same way the human soldier did. It’s a way of showing how the robots with sufficient intelligence are more caring than the humans who fear them.

«The Creator» is playing in theaters now.