Ex Machina

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.

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!

This movie is obviously allegorical, a fascinating tale about AI, but it is mainly about manipulation and power. It isn't for those wanting action or spectacular CGI, the movie is aimed at people who like to think, rather than passively wait to be entertained. There are themes here not only about AI, but also about surveillance, with excellent points about how data about us is collected by phone companies, search engine companies, commercial operating systems makers and so on. The plot seems simple but isn't, it's extremely clever, with the protagonist playing games, trying to stay one step ahead of one another. This is a movie with perfectly consistent internal logic that plays out perfectly. Don't go in expecting too much, however, as I can see most people will not be satisfied by this movie, but for me, it does what it sets out to do brilliantly. Therefore I give at least 9/10. And most recent movies have been getting 5/10 from me. This movie succeeds where another recent movie about AI, Transcendence, I think it is called, failed (but it was an interesting failure). A third movie about AI, a Spanish movie called Eva, was also brilliant. Eva was more moving and this movie more philosophical. But both movies were perfect in their different ways. The AI's name in this movie, Ava, seems to be a nod to the title of the Spanish movie. As an aside, it's nice that no "stars" appeared in "Ex Machina" and "Eva", the casting was great. Of course there are several aspects of this movie that are unrealistic and often absurd. But because this is an allegorical movie, these are acceptable, because the movie is making points, rather than striving for realism. It's more of a fairytale than accurate portrayal.

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.