Here’s a merit badge for each of the main characters in The Creator -

The NOMAD spaceship is one of the humans’ most effective weapons in their fight against AI in the movie The Creator. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

The Creator, a brand-new science fiction movie that hits theaters this weekend, is different from a lot of the sci-fi/action movies these days because it’s not based on a comic book, novel or TV show, and it isn’t a sequel to an older movie.

In other words, if you choose to see The Creator, you will know a lot less about the story and characters than you would have known when you saw the last Star Wars or Marvel movie.

We got to see an early screening of the film, and here’s what we can tell you: The Creator is a sci-fi action thriller about a battle between humans and AI — artificial intelligence.

There are three main characters in The Creator, so we chose three merit badges that would be perfect to help them along their journey.

Citizenship in the World

The main character in The Creator is a man named Joshua, a special forces agent with one job: To find The Creator, which is what the humans call the person (or thing!) that invented AI in the first place. Along the way, Joshua meets Alphie, an AI child who may or may not have a special connection to The Creator.

The Citizenship in the World merit badge would be extremely helpful for Joshua, who has his loyalties tested in many ways along his journey to find The Creator. In his heart, Joshua wants to be a good citizen and help the world survive the threat of AI, but when he meets Alphie, he starts to wonder if the AI is not the real bad guy after all.

Joshua is always on the lookout for The Creator. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Wilderness Survival

Alphie is an AI child who has never been outside – until they meet Joshua and go on the run.

Joshua and Alphie go to lots of different places to avoid being caught by the bad guys, so the Wilderness Survival merit badge would be very helpful for both of them — but mostly for Alphie, who might only be a child, but still turns out to have some wonderous connection to the world around them.

Alphie is an AI child who accompanies Joshua on much of his journey to find The Creator. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

Emergency Preparedness

Another of the main characters in The Creator is Maya, who is married to Joshua. Unlike Joshua, Maya does not see AI as evil. Many of her friends are AI, and they act and look (almost) human. Though they care for each other very much, Maya and Joshua definitely have different feelings about AI.

Maya absolutely could use the Emergency Preparedness merit badge, as she finds herself in a challenging situation early on in the movie.

Maya is married to Joshua, but she and her husband have very different views on AI. Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios

But is The Creator a good movie?

The Creator has a lot of fun action scenes and a lot of good special effects. There are lots of laser guns and a few giant explosions. However, it is not nearly as fun and jokey as, say, most Star Wars and Marvel movies, because The Creator also has a lot of very serious scenes.

If you like the idea of a very serious science fiction action movie, then The Creator is for you.

The Creator is rated PG-13 for its many fight scenes. It is in theaters this weekend.