Ex Machina
(2015)There is nothing more human than the will to survive.
Young programmer Calbe (Domnhall Gleeson, About Time) joins a secret artificial intelligence experiment run by a brilliant scientist (Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis). As the pair develop and interact with the beautiful resulting robot (Alicia Vikander, A Royal Affair), mistrust and deception take hold. The directorial debut of Alex Garland (writer of The Beach, Sunshine and Dredd).
-
Best Visual Effects winner at the 2016 Academy Awards
-
Directed by Alex Garland
Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander, Chelsea Li
Written by Alex Garland
On Demand, DVD & Blu-Ray
Available from 4 providers
Flicks Review
The Peoples' Reviews
Reviewed & Rated by
Your rating & review
Rate / Review this movieRate and/or review
Ex Machina
BY Gaspardation superstar
Very simple story, very rich dialogue. It uses only 7 interviews to demonstrate what is the Turin test. Wonderful.
BY thorinoak superstar
A totally engrossing film from start to finish with superb performances from Gleeson, Isaac, and Vikander (what great movie is she not in these days?) With a taunt tale with lies and mysteries around every corner, this is a film that will entertain and have you mulling over the state of our tech saturated world for days to come. Brilliant!
BY Mel superstar
Beautifully paced, with an almost dream-like quality, tense from start to finish - helped by a trio of superb performances. Seek it out - see it again.Hide
BY The_Chihuahua superstar
Computers that smart and sexy should be like a chrome espresso maker that knows exactly how I like my coffee. A great watch without going over the top sci-fi. So good it makes you believe what we are already capable of... self preservation via... More CPU.Hide
.jpg "BHaldane")
BY BHaldane lister
Showing 5 of 10 reviews. See all reviews
The Press Reviews
92%
of critics recommend.
Rotten Tomatoes Score. More reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
It plays like Frankenstein meets Blade Runner via Hitchcock haunted by the ghosts of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations... Full Review
This is bewitchingly smart science fiction of a type that’s all too rare. Its intelligence is anything but artificial. Full Review
Stylish, elegant, tense, cerebral, satirical and creepy. Full Review
Ex Machina turns out to be far wittier and more sensual than its coolly unblemished exterior implies... Full Review
The story falls out so predictably at every stage that it can be frustrating. It’s the details that are surprising, and purposefully alarming. Full Review
With a sly dreaminess, Vikander steals the movie from the two males. Full Review
Vikander’s spellbinding, not-quite-human presence (her synthetic skin is silky yet creepy) keeps us watching. Full Review
The story ends in a muddled rush, leaving many unanswered questions. Full Review
BY Giles Hardie Flicks Writer
While the ever-expanding blockbuster culture of the 21st century throws up much in the way of justification for bemoaning the doom of the small-to-medium independent film, there is at least one glorious fibre optic lining. The rapid progression of digital effects technology that has gone hand-in-cyborg-claw with these mega-movies has opened up a gateway for brilliant, mind-over-laser science-fiction explorations such as Moon, Her and now Ex Machina.... More
Alex Garland, who wrote the novel for The Beach, the script for 28 Days Later and, most recently, Dredd, turns his hand to directing for the first time and the result is astounding. Domnhall Gleeson (About Time) is Caleb, a young programmer working for fictional Google-Facebook hybrid BlueBook, who is called upon by its founder to attend his forest estate and partake in a week of Artificial Intelligence testing. Specifically of Ava the android, the AI prototype played by the ever-captivating Alicia Vikander (A Royal Affair).
What unravels is both a brilliant existential dilemma and edge of your seat battle of wills as the magnetic Gleeson attempts to match wits with both Ava, her inventor and effectively himself as he soon begins to question if he is the examiner or the subject as well as the small matter of what actually constitutes humanity: Self-awareness? Humour? Attraction? Deception?
Everything about Ex Machina is stunning. From Oscar Isaac - outstanding as the uber-brilliant and barking mad inventor and tormentor Nathan – to the design. A glorious sense of style oozes from every pore of the billionaire’s retreat.
Ex Machina is an outstanding noir thriller, disguised as a brilliant sci-fi exploration, wrapped in an architectural orgasm. See it. Immerse yourself in it. Debate it. Love it.Hide
Care to comment?