It's really a shame that this film won't get the notoriety it deserves since Age of Ultron came out, but, then again, competition is competition, so someone is going to lose out when a film like that is getting most of the box office returns. Right away, I was sold on Ex Machina, because the movie didn't require any hand holding. You know the main players and then some, putting the audience in a place where they don't have to be inquired to do a lot of hard thinking from the get-go. It's not a pretentious movie and I say that for the fact that some of these movies feel condescending to a certain segment of filmgoers that don't watch these movies, so I was glad to come into it feeling welcomed to this world.
Caleb, played by Domhnall Gleeson (he's the son of Brendan Gleeson, if you didn't know) is a computer programmer for Bluebook, a search engine in the vein of a Google or Bing. He's so good at his job, he ends up being chosen to meeting with his boss, Nathan, played by Oscar Issac to work on intricate experiments. Caleb was specifically chosen to see if one of these items could inhibit human emotions, particularly one machine named Ava. Alicia Vikander's character is tricky, because you initially think she's on the side of Caleb, when the two of them are conversing on love, death, birth, Nathan, etc. Vikander, other than Issac's Nathan, were so good, it's like, which of these characters is playing poor Caleb like a fool? Fascinating developments. Isaac continues his streak of compelling characters here, too. The thing I liked about his role, was he was not debilitated by emotions. While he sees his projects as nothing but useless machines, they display characteristics just like human when they're afraid of their creator. He watches them break down, taunt them or fraternize we them. Otherwise he doesn't much care for these things, despite describing to his guest how cool they are. He's driven by success not emotions.
Director Alex Garland is no stranger to certain forms of nihilism (see: 2012's Dredd). He creates this claustrophobic space where things are more than what they seem & in only his second directed motion picture, he allows Gleeson, Issac & Vikander to display their opposite emotions.
If this movie came out weeks before Age of Ultron or any other major release in the summer, it might've done solid business. Unfortunately, it didn't happen that. That being said, see it immediately.
5 out of 5
