Movie Review: Ex Machina
Updated: May 27, 2019
This particular movie had flown under the radar for me and I didn't even know about it until about a week before it was released in the spring in the U.S. and after watching the trailer I was hooked on needing to watch this flick. Took a while to get a hold of it but then once I did I kept getting distracted from watching it. After watching it I am kind of wishing that I had watched it because I would have certainly watched it a few more times in the meantime.
'A young programmer is selected to participate in a groundbreaking experiment in artificial intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I.'
IMDb rating 7.7/10 Metacritic 78/100 Rotten Tomatoes 92%
This particular movie had flown under the radar for me and I didn't even know about it until about a week before it was released in the spring in the U.S. and after watching the trailer I was hooked on needing to watch this flick. Took a while to get a hold of it but then once I did I kept getting distracted from watching it. After watching it I am kind of wishing that I had watched it because I would have certainly watched it a few more times in the meantime.
The movie has 3 main characters and one supporting role (the mute housemaid). Caleb played by Domhnall Gleeson (Bill Weasley of Potter fame), Nathan played by Oscar Isaac (who is playing Poe Dameron in The Force Awakens) and Ava played by Alicia Vikander (Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Danish Girl). Those are the three main roles and I thought they all played their roles particularly well. With how the movie was written it is hard to really do anything but focus on the characters of the film because the scenery is almost entirely within Nathan's secluded home/research lab.
Caleb is 'selected' as the winner of a contest at the company he works at to spend a week at the owner's secluded home. Nathan is the owner of Bluebook which is like Google on crack and actually has brought Caleb to perform the Turing test on and android that he has been working with to test the AI's ability to persuade the tester it's human. Caleb has to prove the AI in an alternative fashion knowing that she is already an android with an AI.
Caleb is 'selected' as the winner of a contest at the company he works at to spend a week at the owner's secluded home. Nathan is the owner of Bluebook which is like Google on crack and actually has brought Caleb to perform the Turing test on and android that he has been working with to test the AI's ability to persuade the tester it's human. Caleb has to prove the AI in an alternative fashion knowing that she is already an android with an AI.
The relationship between Caleb and Ava is fantastic and the interactions between Caleb and Nathan are quite brilliant. I actually got frustrated when I was getting distracted from the movie I was that wrapped up within in. I think I may have even snapped a little at the rugrat while watching it when he kept bugging me. I even enjoyed the M. Night Shyamalan plot twist at the ending of the film as well between Ava and Caleb and didn't see it coming to be honest which I will chalk it up to the solid writing and directing keeping me enthralled in the plot.
The movie was written and directed by Alex Garland who wrote the screenplay and produced Dredd (which I really enjoyed as well). Garland also wrote 28 Days Later and produced 28 Weeks Later and hopefully if the third installment is released that he will have a hand in it as well. Garland had a modest budget of $15 million and made $37 million worldwide which I would deem a success and I am actually going to need to pick up a copy of this for myself which I do not say all that often when it comes to movies.
4.5 Beards out of 5