By now, it’s clear that when it comes to the survival of the human race, the people who make Hollywood movies have the survival instincts of gutless lemmings.

The past 20 years have seen a revival of the “Planet of the Apes” franchise, in which we were expected to root for the apes against humanity. There have also been “X-Men” movies in which the mutants are the heroes and humans the villains, as well as a series of superhero movies in which entire cities are leveled and it’s all OK.

But “The Creator” is the worst yet. It’s a combination of ridiculous science fiction, featuring simulants that need to eat and sleep, and demented propaganda. If you take the movie seriously — and it wants to be taken seriously — “The Creator” is basically saying we should surrender to the robots, even ones that kill people, especially if they have good manners or take the shape of a little kid.

Further, it justifies this with a specious idea at its core, that artificial intelligence, because it is programmed by humans, is by definition human. Indeed, by this calculation, it may even represent a more evolved form of human, an ideal mix of human soul and intellect and mechanical indestructibility.

If “The Creator” were any more slanted, any more in the tank for the coming AI onslaught, you would think it was produced, written and directed by AI.

The movie starts off honestly and chillingly, with fake newsreel footage about the wonders of AI that is interrupted by the sight of Los Angeles exploding because of an AI-detonated nuclear bomb. This event kills a million people. Remember how upset Americans were about the 3,000 people murdered on 9/11? Well, Americans are that much more angry about this disaster and resolve to eliminate artificial intelligence from the planet.

That would seem a straightforward situation: People versus the robots. But in the year 2065, the robots are being harbored and protected by a nation called New Asia. All the same, an American-led alliance of Western nations is about to prevail. The only thing still left to do is to destroy the robots’ last hope, the superweapon that might turn things around at the last minute.

John David Washington (“Tenet,” “BlacKkKlansman”) plays Joshua, an American intelligence agent with an obsession: The war has separated him from his wife, Maya (Gemma Chan), and he just wants to get back with her.

Such grief and longing are easy to appreciate, but director Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”), who collaborated on the screenplay with Chris Weitz (“About A Boy,” “Rogue One”), banks too much on it. It’s one thing for a man to miss his wife, but the filmmakers use that to justify his risking his entire species. They present him as the hero, but if you stand back for five minutes and watch this guy, you’ll realize that he starts off as a dangerous idiot and gradually becomes the worst human being that ever lived.

If “The Creator” has a hero, it’s Allison Janney, as the no-nonsense colonel in charge of finding the superweapon.Janney is always a pleasure to watch, but this time the director is against her.

In fact, so is the script, which midway does something unconscionable (something that can’t be revealed here) that breaks faith with the audience by clumsily and arbitrarily changing the terms of the story.

The sleight of hand is audacious. Suffice it to say, Edwards actually wants us to buy his story as a tale of AI liberation. Seriously? You know how creepy it is when Siri starts talking when you haven’t even said anything to her? Imagine Siri sitting at your kitchen table, wanting to kill you.

然而,观众可能会下降。在晚上我saw the movie, the audience was cheering at the sight of robots killing human soldiers. When you see something like that, it makes you wonder. Maybe the species doesn’t deserve to survive.

Reach Mick LaSalle: mlasalle@sfchronicle.com