Ex Machina (2015)

Ex Machina drops the audience into the world of artificial intelligence when a young programmer, Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson), is selected to participate in an experiment designed to evaluate the human qualities of Ava, an artificial intelligence unit housed inside the body of a beautiful robotic female. Soon the experiment takes an unexpected and dark psychological twist, as Caleb must assess his loyalties and decide which side he will take in a battle between man and machine.

Overall Review Score

6.5 out of 10

Review

Ex Machina, from the Greek Dues ex machina (god from the machine), is a 104-minute sci-fi thriller with attitude. Ex Machina introduces the characters very early on and quickly begins playing mind games with the audience, in which the audience will be left are left wondering who is actually human and who is a robot. While the film is based solely on the infamous Turning Test – which is failed if a human can identify that the other partner in a conversation is a machine – the main cast do a good job of delivering dialogue in an engaging, entertaining and engrossing manner that prevents the film from becoming stale. Additionally, Ex Machina’s ability to dramatise robotic interactions around carefully scripted plot reveals teases the audience with every scene. As the film progresses it does not lose its early tempo and treates the audience to a quick paced narrative that wraps up the film rather nicely. Overall, Ex Machina is a cool, sleek sci-fi drama that, while suffering from some minor flaws, will keep the audience engrossed throughout.

Reviewer 1's score & comments:

Score: 6 out of 10

Comments:

Ex Machina is a decent psychological thriller that will keep the audience engaged throughout with its fantastic special effects, superb acting, and constant mind-games, as the audience try to work out who exactly is being tested - is it the man or the machine. Further to this, Ex Machina helps to identify how far society has come, in a relative short space of time, to achieve full artificial intelligence. My only criticisms of the film is that director and writer Alex Garland created rather bland interior designs, which fit the whole research facility idea that needed to be displayed but failed to offer the audience much to look at during the film’s run time. In addition, the story could have been less predictable as in some instances the Reviewers were guessing spoilers that were later revealed to be true - most notably whether or not Kyoko the Japanese servant seen during the film was another artificial intelligence. Last but not least, I hate to point out that Ava failed to adhere to Asimov’s three rules of robotics, but with that aside, I enjoyed the film and would watch it again even if it was just for the special effects.

Reviewer 2's score & comments:

Score: 7 out of 10

Comments:

Ex Machina is a British sci-fi drama with a subtle twist. While the entire film repeats sets and scenes with little variation and could have easily failed as a result, the actor’s depictions of their characters and the slow, eerie, and equally tense reveal of major plot lines help make this film, and every scene therein, fresh and engaging. Despite the film using no special effects or greenscreens during film, the postproduction additions are virtually flawless causing the audience to feel they are watching the action unfold for real. However, without that said, certain parts of the film were tenuous and its concept will leave the audience wanting to debate whether or not convincing AI is possible long before the credits have rolled – which results in certain key scenes and dialogue being missed. Overall, Ex Machina is a decent sci-fi that does not lose the audience in a garble of computer-talk instead it helps boost the AI sci-fi genre and will leave the audience with some thought provoking, and equally unanswered, questions.

#drama #scifi #ai #domhnallgleeson