Ex Machina is considered a futuristic Sci-Fi movie, but I’d argue it’s about as non-futuristic a Sci-Fi movie as you’re ever going to see.
I forget where I read it originally, but I believe the director and writer of the movie, Alex Garland, stated in an interview recently that the movie takes place “10 minutes into the future.”
Because, really, would we be all that surprised if the likes of Google or Apple came out today and stated they’ve solved the A.I (Artificial Intelligence) riddle?
I think not.
The movies follows talented wiz-kid programmer Caleb (played by Domhnall Gleeson, Anna Karenina, About Time, and the upcoming Star Wars Episode VII1) as he’s seemingly the random winner of an inter-company (feel free to insert Google here) lottery to go and hang out and chill with the founder and CEO, a recluse genius named Nathan, played by Oscar Isaac (who’s quickly climbing the ladder as one of my new favorite actors).
So off Caleb goes via helicopter to the middle of nowhere. Alone. To hang out and hobnob with some guy he doesn’t know who happens to live in a half underground bunker/half technological fortress with “enough fiberoptic cabling within its walls to make the trek to the moon and back” for a week.
There better be Netflix available! Just sayin.
It doesn’t take long for Caleb to find out why he’s there. To test Ava (played by the talented Alicia Vikander), Nathan’s latest (and top secret) A.I creation, to see if she can pass the Turing Test and subsequently, pass as human.
I obviously don’t want to give away any particulars and ruin the fun, but needless to say some shenanigans starts going down. Caleb soon realizes that him being invited wasn’t all that random after all, and well, Nathan may or may have some ulterior motives up his sleeve.
And there’s no Netflix. WTF!
Also, Ava is hot. She’s a hot robot. She’s a hot robot with a killer body. [Thankfully the producers didn’t hire me to come up with the tagline for the movie.]
She may have some ulterior motives of her own. Particularly when she confides in Caleb to not trust anything Nathan says.
What could go wrong?
Compound that with Caleb, who isn’t what we’d call a traditional ladies man, and you can do the predictable movie math.
The “will they or won’t they” vibe was predictable2, I called it half way in!, however the writing is crisp (and well paced), and the last 15-20 minutes will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Definitely worth the viewing if your local theater is playing it. At the very least it will help curb your robot/A.I. fetish (you freak!) until The Avengers: Age of Ultron comes out this weekend.
I give this a solid B.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYGzRB4Pnq8
