Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Ex Machina Review


Ex Machina

Directed by: Alex Garland

Starring: Domnhall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, and Oscar Isaac


File:Ex-machina-uk-poster.jpg

I had heard good things about the Sci-Fi film Ex Machina and a friend and I went to check it out last night. We were literally the only girls in the theater (so ladies the odds are in your favor), I was a bit skeptical that this would be just another macho, Terminator type film. All I can say is WOW! This film is very good and extremely well done. I knew very little about this movie going into it and was glad I stayed away from spoilers and Wikipedia. Therefore, I'm not going to give too much away about the storyline and ending since I think you need to see it in person. But, I will give you a spoiler-free summary!

Caleb played by Domnhall Gleeson (yes, he did play one of the Weasley brothers in the Harry Potter franchise), begins the film by being selected by his company as the winner of a coding contest and in turns get to visit the creator of the company, Nathan. Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year ) portrays Nathan, a genius, billionaire playboy type (think Tony Stark) who soon reveals to Caleb that he has invited him there to test an A.I. aka Artificial Intelligence aka a robot. This A.I. testing is unique, Caleb must determine if the A.I. (named Ava played by Alicia Vikander) is so human like that you can't even tell she's not a real human being. Caleb appears to be a little put off by Nathan, from the reclusive estate to the experiment, you get the feeling Nathan is not one to trust. Caleb agrees to the seven day experiment testing and soon meets Ava. After their first encounter (she interacts just like a regular female), Caleb seems quite taken by the A.I.  Like I said, I don't want to give away too much since this film has several twists and you really need to see it on the screen!

The actors were all terrific, there couldn't have been a better casting job. The directing almost reminded me of a Hitchcock type film, the most simplistic of scenes could make your heart race and you didn't want to miss a scene. Great acting, directing and storytelling, the film actually made you think afterwards. One of my friends who had already seen El Machina, asked me after I saw it, who I thought the villain was. That really got me re-thinking the movie and honestly there could be several answers to that question. Which is why you need to see this movie in theaters today! You can check out the trailer for Ex Machina here!

I definitely thought this was a great, creepy film. What about you? Have you seen it? Does it interest you or no? Let me know!

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