Review: Ex Machina

Domhnall Gleeson plays a socially awkward coder for an internet search engine company. He wins a competition to take part in a secret project run by the search engine company’s CEO, played by Oscar Isaac. Arriving by helicopter at billionaire Isaac’s remote reserve/facility in Alaska, he goes through the usual paperwork before Isaac fills him in on the purpose of his participation. The intimidating and clearly genius Isaac has created an AI dubbed Ava, and it is up to Gleeson to conduct several rounds of the Turing test to determine whether Ava is a fully conscious AI or obviously just a computer program. Although Ava predominantly takes on the guise of the beautiful Alicia Vikander, there is no huge attempt at hiding her mechanical/metallic parts, as Isaac thinks the test is more pure/accurate if it’s more difficult to accept Ava as a being of independent thought and feeling if looking largely non-human. So the series of emotion tests will be purely judged on Ava’s responses and behaviour exhibited in the tests as being considered AI, not whether she is aesthetically convincing as a human. After a while, Gleeson starts to suspect Ava forming a romantic attachment to him, and he also feels a strong emotional pull towards Ava. Then, during a sudden power cut, Ava confesses to Gleeson that the increasingly paranoid Isaac isn’t to be trusted. The rest I will leave up to you to discover.

 

Although somewhat different than I had expected, this 2015 film from writer-director Alex Garland (writer of the Danny Boyle films “The Beach”, “Sunshine”, and “28 Days Later”) was highly anticipated by me, and it does not disappoint. Garland’s directorial debut is kind of like the darker, more psychological cousin to Spike Jonze’s beautiful, humanistic “Her”. The Oscar-nominated screenplay manages to find new and interesting ways to deal with some old concepts. There’s lots of sci-fi concepts to chew on here, with Alicia Vikander giving an interesting Oscar-nominated performance as an AI creation where yes, she acts like a ‘robot’ to an extent, but there’s a hint of humanity on her face at times like she’s really thinking. However, is she genuinely and independently thinking or is that a programmed facial expression whiles she searches for the right answer to a question? And don’t we also ‘search’ for an answer in our own brains, too? So that’s all really fascinating (Speaking of searching, the film also deals with data and privacy issues, a very current topic as Isaac’s search engine finds a unique use for all the search data collected from users).

 

However, there’s a psychological thriller at play here too, between the three main characters. You may see the big twist coming, but then comes another twist added on to that, and I doubt you’ll guess both. I didn’t catch onto either of them to be honest, and found it a really smart, and interesting film with seamless FX, even if I’m still shocked that it beat out some heavy competition to win the Visual FX Oscar that year. The ending, by the way, is pretty brilliant I think. Sure, you’ll probably feel bad for one character, but otherwise it’s pretty brilliant. Less brilliant, and perhaps the only flaw with the whole film is the music score by Ben Salisbury and Portishead’s Geoff Barrow. Some will love it, and it definitely sets a kind of “Gattaca”-like mood, but for me, it gets a little annoying after a while.

 

Domhnall Gleeson is perfectly cast in the lead of a guy who may be just as dumb as he is smart, or is he? You’ll have to watch to find out. The guy looks like he’s flinching whenever he’s in a scene with Oscar Isaac’s character, which is hilarious. It’s also understandable, because although Oscar Isaac is rather diminutive, he is a naturally very intimidating actor, especially here. Add to that a shaved head and huge beard, and you’ve got the icing on the cake. Isaac, as often seems to be the case, is very impressive. Even when this guy is being ingratiating, especially early on, it’s in a way that lets you (and Gleeson) know that this guy knows he’s above Gleeson, more important and powerful. So long as Gleeson’s character is aware of that, they’re gonna get along fine. However, his character seems to become more paranoid as the film goes on, this guy’s paranoid that someone will steal his creation, and is also kind of a douchy drunk to boot.

 

A cold, psychological cousin to “Her”, I prefer that film’s more humanistic, warm-hearted approach to A.I. subject matter. However, this is really fascinating stuff in its own right, and well-acted across the board. I get the hype with this one.

 

Rating: B