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Caleb, a 26 year old coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a

competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan,

the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote

location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating

experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial

intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl…Written by DNA

FILMS

EX_MACHINA (2015) REVIEW – 5-5-2015

5-5-2015 - Written By: David L. $Money Train$ Watts – Journalist/Film Reviewer

FuTurXTV & HHBMedia.com - David Velo Stewart – Editor – www.hiphopbattle.com

I have not seen a serious and well-written Artificial Intelligence (AI) film since Her (2013)

which starred Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. Lately, there are some new stupid,

big budget AI films like Chappie and Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron that have been a

real disappointment because I never though these AI programs were smart enough to

operate a DVR let alone be the star of a whole film. And the even dumber AI big budget

blockbuster summer film is Terminator Genisys that offers up more mindless and soulless

robots and androids obsessed with killing every human. No, I was kind surprised watching

Ex_Machina because Garland treats his audiences with much respect and patience to let us

appreciate the real ramifications of man developing a fully functional AI. Ex_Machina

basically is almost a theatrical stage play because we really only have three central players

in this mind twisting sci-fi/horror thriller. Nathan is the secretive, tech genius billionaire

played very realistically by Oscar Isaac (X-Men: Apocalypse), Caleb is the humble, shy and

Nathan’s star struck employee played methodically by Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The

Force Awakens) and the mega-bright shining star of the film is Swedish born actress Alicia

Vikander (The Man From Uncle). I loved the cat and mouse inter-play between Caleb and

Nathan because it seems so natural and authentic. These two solid actors knew exactly how

to carefully and gradually build up the deadly tension between a tech mentor and mentee.

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart

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But let’s face it Ex_Machina rises or fails as a film on whether Ava was going to be a

boring, repetitive and bland AI fictional characters like David (Haley Joel Osment) of A.I.

Artificial Intelligence (2001), Sonny (Alan Tudyk) of I, Robot (2004) and Dorian of “Almost

Human” (2013-2014). Or would Ava be a truly great, iconic and transformative sci-fi

cinematic AI characters such as Hal (Douglas Rain) in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Ash

(Ian Holm) in Alien (1979) or Rachel (Sean Young) in Blade Runner (1982). Fortunately,

for us Ava is a highly unique AI character just like Scarlett’s Her. What sets her apart for

me is that she really embodies sexiness as a woman without being shown in an exploitative

manner. Alicia is a beautiful and sexy actress, but Garland’s deliberate decision of showing

some parts of Ava’s inside mechanical anatomy while covering Ava’s breast, hands and

buttocks allows one to easily understand how Caleb could be simultaneously attracted to

Ava as well as being guarded because she is not human. Also, Garland was much in control

on how much of Ava’s facial expressions which ranged from bright eyed optimism about

meeting a new person like Caleb, solemn inquisitiveness whether Caleb can be her friend

or blank terror when she tells Caleb no to trust Nathan when she thinks the cameras are

down during a power outage. Alicia masters giving off a steely gaze. Ava is very much like

a professional poker player not giving up her “tell” when freely talking to Caleb as he was

giving her the Turing test to finally prove if she could be treated as a real human being.

“Coined by computing pioneer Alan Turing in 1950, the Turing test was

designed to be a rudimentary way of determining whether or not a computer

counts as "intelligent"…The test, as Turing designed it, is carried out as a sort

of imitation game. On one side of a computer screen sits a human judge, whose

job is to chat to some mysterious interlocutors on the other side. Most of those

interlocutors will be humans; one will be a chatbot, created for the sole purpose

of tricking the judge into thinking that it is the real human.”...Alex Hern…The

Guardian...June 9, 2014

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart

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I will not discuss the plot points of Ex_Machina because I don’t believe in dropping major

spoilers in a film review. Especially, for a small cast film like Ex_Machina whose story can

turn on a dime about certain nuances, slight off camera looks and key phrases. But I do

take issue with Ex_Machina for not letting Caleb be smart enough from the jump to

suspect that Nathan’s muted Geisha/companion Kyoko (Sonyo Mizuno) was an AI like

Ava. I mean this is the year 2015 and unless Kyoko was raised in cave in isolation all her

life to one day work for eccentric tech billionaires--I seriously doubt Caleb would easily

believe that Kyoko never spoke because she did not understand English. Thus Nathan

could trust her to be able to discuss his groundbreaking AI designs and his other sensitive

business matters. Caleb was not even suspicious of Kyoko being an earlier version of Ava

even after seeing Kyoko and Nathan doing the most unconventional and memorable disco

dance number since Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper’s equally brilliant and

mesmerizing final dance number in Silver Lings Playbook. But as a new actor with no lines

Sonyo did an impressive job to add another layer of weirdness and fear to Ex_Machina.

Other than my misgivings with how Caleb interacted with Kyoko I really do not have any

other significant faults with Ex_Machina. I’m gonna go real old skool and suggest that I

actually had flashbacks to Richard Attenborough’s Magic (1978) which was a creepy and

well-written horror film about a manic ventriloquist and his pre-AI demonic mannequin.

And to me a lot of whether one likes or not likes Ex_Machina will always turn on how one

perceives Caleb or Nathan to be at fault for what happens to Ava at the end of the film. I

also suggest that anyone can watch Ex_Machina several times and learn or appreciate new

aspects of the film that you may miss or not pick-up watching it once in the theater. I also

believe that if Ex_Machina had been released in the late Fall instead of during the early

summer than it would easily be a critic favorite for multiple Oscar 2015 nominations. But it

could still happen. I give Ex_Machina $$$$ and I strongly recommend that folks see it soon.

David L. $Money Train$ Watts • FuTurXTV • HHBMedia.com • info@hhbmedia.com • www.hhbmedia.com • David Velo Stewart