Ex Machina (2015) - Review
Originally published February 2016The idea of an artificial intelligence one day rebelling against its human creators is nothing new. It's an idea that's been around for quite some time with stories like 2001: A Space Odyssey, I Robot, and Terminator as some common examples. So it can be a challenge for filmmakers to try to bring this concept to the public without facing immediate eye-rolls or "this old story, again" reactions. It's even more of a challenge if the film in particular isn't an action movie that can use big set-pieces and special effects to sell itself over the tired concept. Ex Machina is a smaller film that manages to have minimal action but presents the same tired concept in a way to get around this stigma.
When Isaac Asimov first wrote I, Robot, his idea was still quite new and intriguing. The very concept of humans creating an AI so advanced seemed far-fetched and allowed Asimov to craft a mystery behind this premise that readers weren't able to easily predict. By the time the movie with Will Smith came out, however, all the suspense and mystery the movie tried to use felt pointless and predictable, so audiences had to at least be entertained by the big action sequences. Ex Machina, on the other hand, doesn't have action, so it tries to keep audiences captivated with its tension and story. While still predictable, Ex Machina, for the most part, succeeds.
Image: A24
Pros
Special effects and attention to detail are very good
All the actors are very convincing in their roles
Tension in a majority of the scenes
Well-shot; cinematography adds beauty to the film
Unsettling final act
Cons
Still ends up being predictable
Movie thinks it's smarter and more mind-bending than it is
Dialogue doesn't necessarily do much to propel the plot at times
Has the "dumbest smart people" syndrome and a final plot device that shouldn't have happened if the geniuses were actually smart
Raised some questions but didn't always answer them
Plot & Thoughts
Ex Machina is a predictable movie. It's about artificial intelligence and the implications of creating one so advanced that it could pass for a human's thought process. So, of course, the first thing that pops into your head is the inevitable rebellion of said AI. The movie knows this and is rather self-aware in a certain way. The very premise of the movie is centered on the idea of having our own sort of preconditioned ideas and testing them to see what we know and what we think we know.
Image: A24
Domnhall Gleeson plays Caleb, a young programmer at a Google-type of a corporation that is into all sorts of tech these days—it even started with a search engine as its first product. He is "randomly" selected as the grand prize winner of a competition within the company, which entitles him the opportunity to spend a week with the not-Google CEO in his luxurious and secluded residence. He quickly learns upon arriving, however, that it's not a vacation but an opportunity, and that the secluded home is actually a research facility. Nathan, the eccentric CEO played by Oscar Isaac, has been secretly developing an AI of incomparable intellect. He wants Caleb to interact with the AI, perform the Turing test, and see if she is convincing enough to fool the average person into believing she's not a machine. The interesting thing, however, is that Caleb already knows she's an AI and is constantly reminded of her being a machine by her physical appearance, which is kind of the opposite way you're supposed to do the Turing test. So, by doing it this way, how can a person like him be fooled?
If I said any more, it would tread into spoiler territory, but you can most likely figure out the rest on your own. As I said, the twists and turns are predictable, but not without tension. Everyone has their own agenda and half of what the characters say to one another is designed to create doubt in our minds as to what the truth of the matter is and what the intentions of the characters are. There are some uneasy and traumatic moments in this film that manage to be memorably unsettling without being violent. Just the way the actors behave and how the scene is shot is enough to accomplish some dynamic level of tension, which is really the main reason to see Ex Machina more than anything else.
Image: A24
Despite being another slow-burn film, it never felt too slow and it seemed to be about the right length to tell its story. After watching The Revenant, it's nice to find that there can still be slow-burn films that aren't also marathons. However, there were a few moments where the dialogue wasn't doing enough to either enhance the characters or propel the plot forward, but that's all just nitpicky stuff.
TL;DR (Conclusion)
Ex Machina is a solid movie that tells a familiar story in a skilled way. It was well-shot, it managed to hold my attention from beginning to end, and it had some genuinely tense moments. However, it just doesn't do enough to make it stand out more amidst the endless supply of similar science-fiction stories. I liked it, but I have little interest in watching it again.