Ex Machina feels like something otherworldly. It balances so many dramatic elements alongside so much human emotion that it feels more like a dream than a film.
It all starts with Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a coder working for a playboy software progeny, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). He is tasked with testing the AI of an ultra-top secret machine called Ava (Alicia Vikander), and to assess whether or not she has developed consciousness. Simply put, is this machine now a living, sentient being? Locked away in a secure facility, Caleb questions Ava through scientific observation. It’s all very standard, but Ava’s answers grow cryptic, and Bateman’s surveillance becomes constant and invasive. And slowly, Caleb is led to think that there are ramifications to creating artificial life – deadly and maddening ones.
Ex Machina is a film that does many things, and yet somehow pulls it all off. It is gently unnerving, sinister and yet seductive, and deals in themes and values that are both new to our social psyche and as old as our DNA. From a theatrical perspective it is a hard-science-fiction thriller, a corporate conspiracy flick, a paranormal romance and a body horror nightmare. From a thematic point of view it seems to encompass the whole breadth of human experience in 108 minutes – love, lust, joy, wonder, terror, rage, human curiosity, creativity and our destructive tendencies too.
What makes this a great film isn’t how much is in it, or what it is about. It’s the fact that it shows all these things in a manner that leaves you feeling relieved and shocked at the same time. It’s softly stunning.
Gleeson is wonderful as the brainy but wimpy tech-head and tragic hero. Vikander is unspeakably beautiful, talented, and downright scary too. But it is Isaac’s performance that stamps the seal of approval on this film’s cast. He drawls like an old king whose condescending attitudes have finally tainted those around him to the point that he infects himself with its caustic poison.
Director Alex Garland deserves absolute praise too. His eye for shape, colour, texture, for symbolism and for iconic visual cues, is masterful. The contrasts he captures between hard, industrial chic and the epic, rolling forms of geography and nature blend together seamlessly. His cinematography is measured and enthralling.
It’s important to note, too, the soundtrack for Ex Machina – which is an appropriately blend of safe, foyer room classical music, surprise popular culture referencing and a unique cyberpunk element that reminds one of concert halls more than trenchcoats and sunglasses. It only adds more flavour to the palette on display.
5/5 stars
Ex Machina opens in cinemas on Thursday May 9.
