Ex Machina

With technology increasing at such a rapid rate, we've had a lot of movies lately dealing with the subject of artificial intelligence, and how technology starts mimicking human emotion.  These films have ranged from escapist spectacles like Chappie and last weekend's The Avengers: Age of Ultron, to more serious fare like Her.  Now here is Ex Machina, and it is easily the most challenging and thought provoking film covering the subject in recent memory.  While a lot of the movies covering the subject rely on special effects to captivate the audience, this film takes a quiet, claustrophobic and unsettling approach, and truly makes us wonder if the human characters, or the robot at the center of it all, is truly in control of the situation.

The robot in question is Ava (Alicia Vikander), and she can seemingly think for herself and experience emotions, though we are never quite sure if this is a simulation or manipulation.  That is the mystery at the core of the screenplay.  Ava is the creation of a reclusive computer genius named Nathan (Oscar Isaac), who is the CEO of a major technology corporation, and spends most of his days in his massive home on a secluded island.  As the film opens, we learn that there is a contest going on within his company where one of his employees will be chosen to spend a week at his island home.  The selected winner is Caleb (Domhnall Gibson), a young but brilliant technology expert who is not quite sure what to expect when he arrives at Nathan's luxurious but secluded home.  The house itself has tight electronic security, and Caleb is told he will only have access to certain rooms, as some will be locked to him.  The entire building is top of the line in technological security, but it frequently has problems where the system breaks down.  It seems to happen an awful lot during his time there, and Caleb soon starts to wonder if someone is controlling these "break downs".

After meeting Nathan, Caleb learns the true meaning behind his visit - He wants Caleb to spend time in private with Ava, interacting with her and asking her questions, to determine if she can pass as a human.  Their conversations will be recorded on camera, and Nathan can use it to further his research.  As Caleb spends time with Ava, a multitude of questions arise.  Is Nathan's motives pure?  When they are alone together, Ava seems frightened when she talks about her creator, and even tells Caleb not to trust him or what he says.  There is also the issue that as they spend time together, Ava seems to be opening up with and growing closer to Caleb.  In the back of our minds, we know this is not possible.  Ava is still a machine at heart.  As Caleb is sucked in and even becomes protective of her, we find ourselves wondering if Ava's feelings are simply a simulation, and it is her way of getting what she wants.

Ex Machina not only asks these kind of questions, but gives itself and the audience time to truly think about what it is asking.  And yet, this is not a movie that is so challenging that it alienates its audience.  The narrative is straightforward, and doesn't veer off the central premise.  What makes the movie fascinating to watch is how both of the human characters react to Ava.  To Nathan, the creator, Ava is just another machine, and a step to a much more advanced model.  Once he has gotten the information from Caleb, she will most likely be destroyed, and he will start working on his next more advanced model.  As for Caleb, he sees Ava almost as a prisoner.  He begins to sympathize and perhaps even relate to her.  He becomes lost in the illusion that is Ava.  Yes, she is human mostly in appearance, and certainly in speech and the way she seems to think.  But, we know that she is a machine.  Caleb knows this too, obviously, but spending time alone with her causes him to see her as something more. 

For almost its entire running time, writer-director Alex Garland creates a tense atmosphere with very little.  As we watch Caleb and Ava's conversations through a glass wall that separates them, we almost start to share Caleb's sense of wanting to set this robot free.  Much like the experiment that Nathan is performing, the film asks us the audience to let go of our preconceived notions, and see Ava as a living being.  At first it is hard, but as she starts to wear clothes to hide her robotic appearance, and becomes more human with each interview, we are drawn in as much as Caleb.  This is the rare film that really puts us into the position of the main character, and forces us to feel almost everything he is feeling.  As we learn more about Nathan and more about his experiment, we are angry.  The film's final moments (which I will not reveal) are perhaps completely logical, yet we do not see it coming, because we are so wrapped up in the emotions that the movie has been giving us the whole time.  We have been manipulated to feel a certain way about all these characters in the story.

To be fair, there is not much in Ex Machina that has not been explored hundreds of time in the realm of Sci-Fi.  Yet, at least in terms of recent cinema, it's rarely been handled this well.  This is the kind of movie that quietly gets under your skin without you noticing it.  As you think back on the film, you start to see the movie's manipulations and how it has played you, and you are grateful for the experience of having a movie that truly took you by surprise.

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