Ex Machina

This is the kind of movie I really enjoy when I think about science fiction. Movies that make you think if we should continue trying to progress even more. Are we not already smart enough with everything we have? With all our daily gadgets that we can't miss for one second. Do we really need artificial intelligence? Because let's face it, once that will be concrete then we won't do a thing by ourselves anymore. We will send our robots to our job, we will chose and model our life partner like we want them to be. The story of Ex Machina might be futuristic but I certainly can imagine it like that in the future. All actors were good in their respective roles. For a movie that is filmed at the same spot all the time you certainly don't get bored for a second. Nice science fiction like there should be more of them.

This is a story that explores a wide range of topics including philosophy, psychology, theories about the future/mankind, and more! The twists/turns in this movie are done really well and the ending defied my expectations. While it was a bit slow a few times, I thought that it was ultimately worth going through. At times it was creepy and makes you feel uncomfortable yet at other times it was beautiful and had impressive acting as well. All 3-4 of the main cast did great!! I loved the music in the more intense scenes as well, and whatever sound effects they used that weren't quite music but worked well subtly enhancing the mood. It was a modern-day Blade Runner!

Don't mean to insult here, but who else wants to love a machine. Bear with me: this movie has a deep insight to communicate, whether intended or not is open to question.

The story is a modern telling of Bluebeard's Castle as the correct version of Beauty and the Beast. In other words, it seems to be about impotence. Except that this is geek love, love at an impossible distance, that is eroticism. And the movie itself tells you all you need to know about eros.

The insight. Ex Machina is ostensibly about Turing's Test, the thesis that a machine might be so human as to fool a human being. Does Ava pass this test? Depends on how you perceive the test. Ex Machina actually implies a more relevant Test: could a machine seem so human as to make the human being inteacting with it come to believe that he himself is a machine?

And the insight? It might be that the solution to the AI/human interface may not involve the humanising of robots, but the robotisation of humans.

Only 8/10 because it is not clear that this insight was actually part of the plot. But whether you find eros or AI in this movie, you will have a rewarding journey.

Ex Machina (2015)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

A different sort of science fiction film, a programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) wins what is basically a lottery to go and spend a week with his company's owner (Oscar Isaac). The owner, Nathan, pretty much created a search engine but he's gone a step further by creating an artificial intelligent woman named Ava (Alicia Vikander) who the programmer is supposed to examine and question.

EX MACHINA pretty much came out of nowhere and became a good hit across the world and I'm rather shocked that it did. Usually dumb science fiction movies with a lot of mindless actions are the ones that make money and not those that features very little to no action and instead just dialogue and thought. What really sets this film apart is the fact that it asks more questions than anything else and it expects the viewer to think about those questions and the impact that certain actions could have.

The visual style of the film is quite impressive and it's certainly a very interesting film to just look at. The music score is quite haunting and perfectly captures the mood of the film. There's the terrific cinematography that pulls you into the setting. The special effects are also extremely impressive. I loved the set and the look of this compound but the special effects are the real star. If you didn't believe that you were really looking at and operating with real artificial intelligent creatures then the entire film just wouldn't have the same feeling.

Then there are the performances, which are a major plus. Gleeson pretty much plays the role that is typically a nerd but the film never lowers the character to that simple term and instead makes him a very interesting person. Even the role of the billionaire played by Isaac isn't what you'd typically see and the actor brings a certainly coldness to the part. Vikander is flawless and steals the picture in her role.

EX MACHINA certainly won't be a movie for everyone but it's good to think about the questions that it asks.

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds." Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson)

Ex Machina is a thoughtful science fiction about Artificial Intelligence, whereby, to no fan's surprise, the current female robot, Ava (Alicia Vikander), has human qualities that cause trouble for inventor, Nathan (Oscar Isaac), and visitor, young Caleb. If you know anything about these stories, you could write the screenplay, but you'd need these actors to make it the impressive sci-fi it is.

Poets and philosophers have been intrigued by just this story about AI gone astray after interacting with humans. The Frankenstein motif is alive and dangerous, and the spirit of Spike Jonze's Her, with the seductive operating system, is very much a part of Ava's approach to Caleb. The destructive force of Nathan's creation is more subtle than in Dr. Frankenstein's creation, but menacing nevertheless: "Isn't it strange, to create something that hates you?" Ava to Nathan

Brainy Nathan has a compound somewhere in an Alaskan refuge as modern as could be with ID cards and glass walls and doors to give the impression of peace and transparency. Caleb is chosen to help Nathan use the Turing Test to judge the quality of the AI-human experience.

As in real life, nothing is as it appears because neither Nathan nor Ava can refrain from lying. Yet, even Caleb is drawn into lies as he gets closer, even romantically, yikes! to Ava. Once again for science fiction, as soon as the robot gets to enjoy being like a human, trouble ensues. However, even if this film seems like a retread, say, of Never Let Me Go, very few filmmakers could match the ultra modern, yet still sexy, set design. And Isaac's character is so mercurial, at once comforting then tyrannical, that the film could be remembered if only for his star turn as the mad but charming scientist.

After all, Ex Machina is as much about a scientist playing God as it is about the bridge between robot and man. Each topic could, and has been, treated on its own. Here it is an exciting return to modern man as god and monster:

"I am God." Nathan