Ex Machina Movie Review

"One day AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons on the plains of Africa. An upright ape living in dust with crude language and tools, all set for extinction."

-Nathan Bateman

I was floored my Ex Machina. This film was beautiful, imaginative, engrossing, simple yet layered, and unexpected for me. I've had an interest in films centered around AI for a while now and they can be hits or misses. Let's use Her and Transcendence as proof. Her holds a special place in my heart. I've seen it numerous times, finding something new I love about it after every viewing. The way that Jonze was able to create an AI that was not physically visible on screen and still form such a powerful bond between it and the audience was amazing. Transcendence on the other hand came in with some big ideas but failed in the execution and was just a big mess of a film. Ex Machina falls into the category with Her of course, while still maintaining its own identity and constructing original ideas for debate. This film was written and directed by Alex Garland and stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, Oscar Isaac as Nathan, and Alicia Vikander as Ava.

There are very few films that can exclusively focus on 2-3 characters over the course of its run. I mean for storytelling purposes that is usually a good thing or these stories wouldn't be very interesting. It's fun to see characters interacting with other characters along their journey which usually leads to some great character development. Then there are movies that suffer from the opposite. The film introduces too many characters and doesn't have the time to flesh them all out individually, to the fullest capacity. Ex Machina had the luxury of telling this mesmerizing story with three, or arguably four, characters and growing their arcs' to the fullest potential. Caleb is a young, single, intelligent computer programmer who works for Bluebook, the world's largest search engine. He wins some sort of competition and is chosen by Nathan Bateman, the head of Bluebook, to fly out to his estate for a week. Within the first five minutes of the film we're arriving by helicopter at Nathan's estate and after a sarcastic remark by the helicopter pilot we realize that Nathan owns a ridiculous amount of land. The chopper gets as close as it's allowed to and Caleb is forced to follow a river to get to Nathan's house. Caleb is quirky and doesn't seem to boast of confidence but is a genuine person. I loved all the scenes between Caleb and Nathan, each one peeling back these characters one layer at a time, exposing strengths weaknesses and motives. But at the heart of this film lies Ava, Nathan's latest creation.

Ava is a super advanced artificial intelligence recently developed by Nathan. She has a human-like form with very human facial features but still has exposed robotic parts. She is beautiful in essence. A elegant creation that thinks and sees and speaks on the world around her. Caleb, after signing a non-disclosure agreement, is tasked by Nathan to be part of something new, something revolutionary. Evolutionary. Caleb is initially very intimated by Nathan just as one would expect to be when meeting one of the greatest minds of your generation, who also happens to be your boss. But Nathan is determined to get over this initial awkwardness immediately and puts all his cards on the table, or so we think. Nathan, in his smugness, tries to make Caleb feel like a bro, but it's clear that these two aren't compatible despite having similar interests. Nathan breaks Caleb into his new home for the next week and eventually shows him Ava, and the tools he used to create her. The film does a great job with the banter between these two, without getting to heavy into high-tech level jargon. Comic relief comes from both Caleb's gracelessness and Nathan's cocky, omniscient attitude. Nathan's alcoholism also plays a key role later on in the film. Ex Machina had this interesting way of progressing in that every time Caleb and Ava would speak it was titled screen that would read: Ava Session-followed by a number. Ava was enclosed inside a big room so it was up to Caleb when he wanted to go down and speak with her. Caleb was here to administer a Turing Test to Ava, which is a test that evaluates a machines ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable, from that of a human.

During these sessions is where Ava really took stage. Her and Caleb would speak and as she would learn about him Caleb began to realize that he was truly learning about her as well. She had individual, unique thoughts and emotions. She had also never been outside of the room in which she was born or seen another human face aside from the two men in the house. Ava was visually stunning in this movie. She had the beautiful face of Alicia Vikander that almost looked like a skin mask, but didn't seem to cross the line over to the creepy side. Just as Scarlett Johansson brought life to Samantha in Her with only her voice, Alicia added so much to Ava despite only seeing her face on this machine. Throughout the film there was no denying the darker undertones that were present. They're fleshed out more as the plot unravels but there are some very strong queues in the conversations between both Caleb and Nathan and Caleb and Ava. Big questions of what is and what should arise. What really qualifies as being alive? As Tony Stark mentions in Age of Ultron, "...that man was not meant to meddle melody." Speaking of which, Whedon could have borrowed a thing or two from Ex Machina when creating Ultron! All these questions of the future of the human race and if it is us who will be the cause of our own extinction. The line between good and bad are blurred in this film and in the end it is not good or bad that determines the fate of all involved. I was hooked from the beginning and was wholly engrossed until the credits rolled. It was plain phenomenal and what many films should aspire to be. Both entertaining and smart. I give Ex Machina 9.5 out of 10 and rank it as one of the best films in 2015 thus far.