Movie Reviews this week looks at the fascinating sci-fi dark drama Ex-Machina.
It stars Domnhall Gleeson (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2) as Caleb a young programmer who has won a prize to work on a project along with his employer Nathan; played charmingly by Oscar Isaac (A Most Violent Year, something about his intense stare reminds me of a young Al Pacino), the owner of the largest search engine in the world (the equivalent of Google in this fictional piece).
We join the movie as Caleb is flown to meet his employer on a deserted island in the middle of nowhere; we get an idea of just how well off Nathan is, as Caleb asks the pilot; as they have been flying over expanse greenery for some time, when they will reach Nathan’s property, and he mentions matter-of-fact that they are already there. The helicopter pilots drops him off a good distance away from the house, and tells him “that this is the closest he is allowed to the house”, which signals curiosity as to what Caleb has let himself in on.
Like many aspiring programmers and indeed employees in awe of being invited into their employer’s home, Caleb is eager to impress his employer having been picked miraculously for this once in a life time opportunity. He tries his best to engage on an intellectual level with Nathan, once he is told the purpose of his visit is to conduct a “Turing test” on an A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), called Ava, played by the gorgeous Alicia Vikander (Seventh Son). As explained in the movie the Turing test is to determine if an A.I. can fool a human into believing he/she is not dealing with an A.I.
Nathan gives the impression that these are just two guys hanging out, while Caleb gets hooked in by Ava, and the audience themselves are not quite sure if Ava is genuinely conscious or part of her programming. This theme may have been visited numerous times in other movies, but not quite like this, and the audience will be spellbound, as the lines of antagonist or protagonist are not clearly defined.
This is a fascinating look into A.I. from a different standpoint that has been delved into in other movies, and the audience is drawn in trying to figure out if it will all end well for any party.