EX MACHINA

Ex Machina (2015)

Grade: A

**Currently Available on Redbox**

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander and Sonoya Mizuno

Premise: A shy computer programmer is awarded the chance to oversee the development of a fascinating new artificial intelligence that’s incredibly lifelike.

Rated R for language, graphic nudity, blood and disturbing images, and some violent content

For about ten minutes after I finished watching Ex Machina in my living room, I couldn’t stop saying the word wow. An effective Creation/Science hybrid fable, Ex Machina is a spooky thriller that weaves a slow but undeniable spell until it explodes with a third act that plays like a series of heavy punches to the gut…punches that somehow, incredibly, feel great almost as soon as they’ve landed. Deriving its title from the common Latin phrase deus-ex-machina—which is loosely translated “god from a machine”—this sci-fi think-piece is a well-written, well-acted work that, when all is said and done, registers as borderline-spectacular.

Plot

Shy but smart computer programmer Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) knows he’s landed the opportunity of a lifetime—a week-long stay with the heralded, super-smart, super-rich CEO of Bluetooth, the huge Google-esque internet software company he works for. Nathan (Oscar Isaac) doesn’t disappoint, either, a brilliant mind living an airy yet secret headquarters in the middle of a huge swath of land he owns. Turns out he’s a little lacking in social graces—sharp, a big drinker, definitely a little arrogant—but he invites Caleb to visit a new frontier he’s been exploring: artificial intelligence. It’s not just robots or smart computers, but a human-styled computer with a great deal of knowledge and a swiftly-evolving personality. She even has a face (that of Swedish actress Alicia Vikander), and a name, Ava. After signing a nondisclosure agreement and agreeing to pry and see just how lifelike the A.I. is, Caleb is able to sit down each day and communicate with Ava, who’s bright and inquisitive but sweet and soft-spoken. Caleb’s week starts to drag a little, what with the cabin fever (an atmosphere enhanced by Nathan’s mute mail-order wife, Kyoko [Sonoya Mizuno]), Nathan’s demanding interviews and awkward drunken spells, and random power outages that leave Caleb trapped in his room. But the huge bright spot is unquestionably Ava, who takes to Caleb like a duck to water, even if they’re only talking from opposite sides of a sheet of glass. She learns quickly, she wants to hear about his family, she wants him to see her dress up, she wants him to plan a fantasy date for them. She even has an undeniably-curvy figure. Caleb tries to fight his natural urges and his growing “crush”, but as he grows to like Ava more, he begins to sadly think of her as a hostage, and to wonder if, out in the real world, by his side, she could function.

What Works?

British-born Adam Garland, who wrote one of the great suspense/horror movies of the last decade-and-a-half in 28 Days Later, wrote Ex Machina and shepherded it into existence as his directorial debut. It’s a superb one, and I wonder if he might manage a nomination in the Oscars’ Original Screenplay Category for his work here. After all, his movie cuts right to the chase, and he explores in both dialogue and mere suggestion ideas like man playing God, the nature of attraction, and what makes humans human. There are some talky sections to the film, but most of the conversation can’t help but spark one’s interest. In some ways, this movie is like a cousin to Spike Jonze’s Her—if that film was about whether a man could fall in love with the rich female personality of his computer, Ex Machina wonders: if that rich female personality had a body and face to go with it, and was completely convincing as a person except for the fact you knew it was a computer, could you really love and trust it like you would a real person? Of course, in a story that bears more than a passing resemblance to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Ex Machina also asks: Should you?

With these juicy main topics and a living, in-the-moment musical score that takes over at the end, Ex Machina sounds great, and it looks great as well. The visual effects that render Ava’s robotic extremities and core are superb, and Nathan’s large mansion/research lab is both effectively posh and rather stale and forbidding, neatly underlining the when is too much Too Much narrative.

The three main actors are absolutely terrific, embodying every subtle nuance of a constantly-thinking story. Domhnall Gleeson, the British actor who’s everywhere lately, has arguably the least-interesting role but, like Joaquin Phoenix in Her, it’s his job to be so very, unmistakably human at the center of the story, and to make us understand what he’s feeling, and he does. When Caleb feels revulsion at the idea that he’s falling for a robot and tries to fight it, and yet can’t help being delighted in Ava’s presence, his masterful series of almost-unconscious little tics and posture changes are hugely-effective. He’s matched—and often-overshadowed—by Oscar Isaac, whose rich, charismatic portrayal encompasses a lot. One minute, he’s a Victor Frankenstein-esque mad scientist. The next, he’s a snooty, unsociable Social Network-style prig inventor. The next, he’s just one of the boys, throwing back beers. The next, he’s a perfectionist who’s created an incredible technology but won’t think of unveiling it until it’s absolutely what he wants it to be. And there’s a little bit of that man-playing-God thrown in there, with Nathan blowing his own horn and daring Caleb to understand his vision, but the genius of Isaac’s performance is that, we find out late in the proceedings, it may or may not have all been an act meant to seduce Caleb into letting his guard down. Then there’s Vikander, who parlayed this role and a few other turns into a huge breakout year in 2015. She’s wonderfully-beguiling and easy to love with her big brown eyes, innocent personality and soft voice—and there’s a beautifully-rendered scene in which she dons regular clothes and a wig and shyly shows herself off that speaks all kinds of volumes—and yet that same face proves to be stone-cold and inscrutable when Ava shows some mettle.

What Doesn’t Work?

Ex Machina might have one or two too many scenes that are either talky or all silent visuals, but not many. As long as you’re invested and have paid attention, this puppy packs a wallop.

Content

Ex Machina earns its R rating with some four-letter words and sexual references, plus some darker moments. There’s also an extended sequence featuring full frontal female nudity when Caleb reviews some old lab tapes of Nathan trying to fashion the most realistic-looking female figure for his A.I. Nathan’s mute wife loses her clothes in one scene as well, and a few confrontational scenes also get a bit bloody. Definitely keep the kiddies away for this one.

Bottom Line

Ex Machina, the directorial debut of British screenwriter Alex Garland, is both thought-provoking and superbly-suspenseful, at this point one of the very best movies I’ve seen this year. "Should man play God if he has the power to" is the question, and Garland’s great writing, some stunning visuals, some even more stunning third-act twists, and great performances from Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander (in a recently-Golden Globe-nominated performance) make this a tense, juicy study in humanity’s relationship with technology and all its faults.

Ex Machina (2015)

Written and Directed by Alex Garland

Rated R

Length: 108 minutes