Ex Machina

Ex Machina (2015)

Oscar Issac and Domhnall Gleeson in Alex Garlands Ex Machina

Image From IMDB

Billionaires fucking around with A.I. Honestly, is there anything more terrifying?

I love Ex Machina. It’s such a beautiful and intelligent movie from start to finish. Oscar Issac’s performance as Nathan is absolutely wild, and you can’t help but both like and loath the eccentric designer as he patronises you in every scene. Alicia Vikander is equally as brilliant as the haunting A.I Ava, while Domhnall Gleeson plays his part as the naive coder Caleb. All were cast just perfectly.

It’s also Alex Garland’s directory debut, which was another reason I was excited about it being a big fan of his writing. The film was also lauded for its special effects, which are flawless. I can’t think of a Hollywood movie in the last ten years that looks consistently better.

Ex Machina is about whether an AI can pass the Turing test, while we learn about the mystery of its existence, and its reclusive maker. The whole film is pretty much set in a single location, with a cast of four. As an audience you quickly start to question everything, with one scene in particular involving Gleeson hacking at his wrist being the scene we all needed in Blade Runner.

The film has such a playful tone. It presents itself as almost a hard, intelligent sci-fi, but it doesn’t shy away from being an extremely sexy movie with very flawed characters and plenty of intrigue. There’s plenty of humour, both dark and light, mixed in with serious philosophical conversation that feel pretty damn prevalent.

At one point Glesson asks if Ava was made to look the way she does based on his porn profile––which is just hilarious in my opinion––while another scene Issac’s confesses to building Ava’s mind by using everyone’s search history and mobile cameras. Again, it all feels so real and possible, even if the technology itself isn’t.

Another scene is a whole conversation about whether or not Ava has been programmed to be sexual, and whether she has the correct parts, again, there’s no doubt in my mind theses are the exact conversations that would be taking place should such a thing ever be invented.

There isn’t enough sexy sci-fi around any more, especially not with the intelligence this one has to go with it. The film is as intriguing and suspenseful as it is playful and sometimes ludicrous (that dance scene and the line that precedes it). The unravelling mystery and interplay between the characters give the movie a good pace, along with its title card structure.

Ex Machina is a sci-fi i’d recommend to anyone, and in my personal opinion one of the best ones to come out in the last ten years. I don’t know if the ending will be for everyone, but again, for me, it’s perfect, and exactly what I would have done. Really can’t say enough about this wonderful little movie. Am sure in years to come it will go down as a masterpiece of cinema.

S.D. Williams

Sci-fi Author, Blogger, and Reviewer

https://www.lambencybelt.com
Previous
Previous

Nineteen Eighty-Four

Next
Next

Predator: Killer of Killers