Ex Machina (2015)
2015
R
108 Minutes
Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrive...
User Review
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WHAT I LIKED: Alex Garland's directorial debut 'Ex Machina,' is a film devoted entirely to one of storytelling's most powerful ingredients - suspense.
We see an ordinary young programmer called Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) arrive in the middle of nowhere to an ultra-modern house behind a locked door, and then he meets his aloof, shirtless, Elon Musk-esque boss Nathan (Oscar Isaacs) who eventually explains he's brought him there to test an AI robot he's built (Alicia Vikander). Truly intelligent AI? Or the manipulated product of a power-crazed maniac? This is the central mystery of the film, and, confounded tenfold by the fact the AI and Caleb start to form a romantic connection, either prospect seems creepy. There's also the mystery surrounding Nathan's slave who doesn't speak English, and the mystery of how it's all going to unravel when Caleb begins plotting to help the AI escape during various unexplained power cuts.
That plot makes for a pretty edge of your seat experience, and that's emphasised brilliantly by Garland's almost Fincher-esque palette of cold hues and panning wide shots to make reveals slowly and tentatively. Via Caleb's attempt at breaking her out, in the end it's revealed that Nathan was simply seeing if she had the intelligence to manipulate Caleb into helping her escape, but his plan backfires as she escapes into civilisation.
That makes for a twisted, Frankenstein ending that's as unsettling as the mystery throughout; proving both that she was the product of a manipulative maniac, and that she's also a manipulative maniac as a result.
WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE: It's a shame that the film never particularly reaches beyond its suspense for anything that provokes your thoughts or emotions, as there's an interesting question about what makes us human that lingers in the background but is only ever tokenistically discussed by Caleb and Nathan.
VERDICT: Though hardly profound, Alex Garland's directorial debut 'Ex Machina,' is a brilliantly suspenseful sci-fi film.1 member likes this review.
