‘Ex Machina’ Review

In the near-future, young computer coder Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), working for the world’s most powerful tech company, is selected to assist in an unorthodox experiment. Caleb travels far from his office job to an isolated homestead, and research facility, of the company’s reclusive CEO, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) for a weeklong visit. However, when the eager employee actually meets his employer, Caleb finds that, in his isolation, Nathan has become unhinged and obsessive – rarely seen without an alcoholic drink in hand.

Nevertheless, when Nathan reveals to Caleb the purpose of his visit, the coder dismisses his initial discomfort (and fear) in favor of jumping head-long into scientific discovery. Hidden away in his compound, Nathan has been working on an advanced artificial intelligence named Ava (Alicia Vikander) – and has brought Caleb in as a consultant, hoping the programmer can successfully administer a Turing Test: intended to determine if an A.I.’s personality and self-awareness is equal or greater than a flesh-and-blood human (meaning the A.I.’s “artificial” intelligence is imperceptible to “normal” people).

Ex Machina marks the directorial debut of 28 Days writer Alex Garland – a name that should be familiar to viewers of other fan-favorite genre stories: Sunshine and Dredd, especially. While Garland didn’t spend much time in a director’s chair prior to his work on Ex Machina (depending on how much you believe about the upheavals on Dredd‘s set), the acclaimed novelist and screenwriter has collaborated closely with several high-profile filmmakers (including Danny Boyle). As a result, while certain moviegoers might be skeptical that a freshman filmmaker could deliver a thought-provoking, visually arresting, and outright haunting sci-fi story, Ex Machina is definitive proof of Garland’s talent on the page and behind the camera.

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