‘Ex Machina’ Review
Ex Machina starring Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac, and Domhnall Gleeson was a pleasant surprise. It keeps you on your toes with many twists and turns, and at the same time it is a very memorable film. This film is filled with marvelous acting that blurs the line between humanity and programming.
This motion picture takes place in the near-future, where young and talented computer coder Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is working for the most powerful company and search engine in the world, called Blue Book. Caleb is selected to assist in a “Turing Test” like experiment. Caleb travels to a remote area to a research facility, to meet the company’s drunken but genius CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) for a visit that would last a week. When Caleb meets his employer, he realizes that Nathan has become obsessive and deranged by his lengthy experiment.
Isaac and Gleeson are set to star together in the next installment of the Star Wars series, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
When Nathan reveals the purpose of Caleb’s visit, Caleb is originally very uncomfortable and in fear, but he dismisses these original feelings in favor of aiding a colossal scientific discovery. Nathan has been working on an advanced artificial intelligence deep inside his compound named Ava (Alicia Vikander). Nathan has brought Caleb in as a consultant and so he can execute a successful Turing Test. For Ava to pass, she needs to be to undetectable as an A.I.
Ex Machina is the directorial debut for Alex Garland, who wrote 28 Days Later. In a recent interview with Newsweek, Garland said of the film”It was really a very, very easy film to work on.” Watching this movie, you would expect a director to say the exact opposite.
Certain moviegoers could be suspicious that a freshman director could develop such a thought-provoking and visually stunning film, like Ex Machina. After seeing this film, suspicion is one of the few feelings that should be absent.
The title of the film is one thing I didn’t understand while watching the movie, until I researched and found that it is a play on a Latin phrase “deus ex machina” – meaning “a god from the machine” – which is how Caleb sees Nathan throughout most of the movie.
Ex Machina first caught crowds eyes, with their eye-catching trailer released on October 30,2014, as reported by The Inquisitr. It is currently in the lead for scene of the year, as reported by Vanity Fair. In this scene Nathan and one of his A.I.’s do a highly choreographed dance break.
Ex Machina is a must see film not just for sci-fi fans but moviegoers who like any genre.
Final Rating: 8/10
[Image Source: Rob Kim/Getty Images]
