Ex Machina – Film Review
Director: Alex Garland
Starring: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac
Release Date: Out Now
Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a young computer coder at a multi-billion dollar company, wins a competition to spend a week with the company’s reclusive CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). As soon as he arrives, Nathan reveals to Caleb that his stay is more than just a holiday prize; he is there to participate in an experiment by interacting and socialising with Nathan’s latest invention, an artificially intelligent android named Ava (Alicia Vikander).
Pretty soon it becomes apparent that there may be more at play than a simple prototype test and the lines become blurred on who’s the experimenter and who’s the experimentee in Ex Machina, which is written by Alex Garland as well being his directorial debut.
So, right away, the initial reaction to this film is a sense of familiarity, both in its premise and tone. There have been many films before that cover this kind of subject matter, movies like Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey or AI: Artificial Intelligence. These films are about the concept of consciousness in human built lifeforms, and the natural innocence of such a life-form in contrast to mankind’s flaws.
Previous films and stories outside of the format of film have really constructed the building blocks for this area, so it can be hard to imagine what new ground there is to cover. This is especially true in a film like this, with such a simple and direct premise and no broader active plot to keep the theme afloat.
That said, Alex Garland has proven before that there can be new ground to cover in genre films concerning specific well established concepts. A good example of this is 28 Days Later. With this film, Garland took the zombie genre, specifically George A. Romero’s Dead Trilogy, and through no twists or gimmicks, simply created a new perspective to depict an apocalyptic world during an epidemic.
Other examples for films of that ilk would be Sunshine and even the Alex Garland written Dredd film.
What these films have in common is simply a different frequency of focus. The drama of the characters is always far less broad and more intimate, specific and personable to a wider audience. And in achieving that, Garland has managed to make something refreshing out of a sub-genre that’s very familiar in a way that’s difficult to describe.
Under this light, Ex Machina is no exception. It takes the concept of mechanized consciousness and examines it in a story that, frankly, is impossible to explain without spoiling the entire thing. Without saying too much, there’s also a very endearing commentary on contemporary technology, as part of the story itself.
Such a minimal narrative, of course, requires a skilled cast and that’s also something that Ex Machina provides.
The film mainly focuses on Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac, who have an superbly awkward back and forth that has equal parts camaraderie and uncertainty. There are surprising elements of humour and while there is some marginally jarring exposition, there is a very convincing and extremely subtle battle of wits at play.
Alicia Vikander gives a performance similar to the tone of the film, in that she is subtle and just that little bit haunting. While she is immersed in special effects and prosthetics, she adds that (debatable) humanity of the character; simple in delivery but effective.
The only flaw in the film is that there is a lull or two in the narrative and just a slight awkwardness in the pacing.
Towards the end, the film does pursue a somewhat drawn out sequence of events, in something of a Danny Boyle style. As a result, there are points where the film does leave you uncertain as to where it’s going. This could largely be due to it being Garland’s first venture as a director, which, overall, is still a successful one.
So in the end, Ex Machina is a smart and sharp science fiction drama. Following along previous retro-ish/contemporary sci-fis like Moon and Beyond the Black Rainbow, it’s an engaging and intelligent film with equally compelling concepts and drama.
Score: 4/5
Written by Seamus Hanly
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