Movie Review: “Ex Machina” Is Very Kubrick-Like

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A programmer for a Google-like firm interacts with an AI-like life form in order to prove how truly human it is.

We love humanlike robots in movies and the possibility of AI. In fact, for centuries there has been a fascination with creating artificial life/intelligence. Around 1770 there was even a mechanical humanlike chess player (The Mechanical Turk) that would beat chess masters at their own game. Later on it was proven to be a hoax, and actually operated by a man pulling the strings in a box below.
 
This goes to the idea of what “Ex-Machina” is about. How can you prove if something has true AI? Or if a machine or mechanism is just good at mimicking human behavior?

In the film, a young programmer, Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) works for a Google-like company called Blue Book. Caleb wins a competition to meet the elusive CEO of Bluebook. In a scene similar to “Jurassic Park,” the young coder is flown by helicopter to a massive estate in the middle of nowhere. It’s the CEO’s location. After being dropped off, Caleb makes his way to a modern underground bunker, deep in a lush forest. In this bunker, Caleb will meet Nathan, the eccentric Blue Book CEO played by the talented Oscar Isaac.

Caleb is expecting to talk all about programming and business, but Nathan, who seems to be suffering from a hangover, has no interest and would rather skip the formal conversations and carry on like friends. Caleb and Nathan are polar opposites. Caleb seems shy and awkward while Nathan is boisterous and blunt. After a brief introduction, and a small tour of the tech filled underground compound, Nathan introduces to Caleb the real reasons he’s there. Caleb is there to help Nathan test his AI creation, called AVA (Alicia Vikander). He’s asked to help perform a Turing Test. According to WIKIPEDIA, the Turing Test is described as the following, “The Turing test is a test of a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human. In the original illustrative example, a human judge engages in natural language conversations with a human and a machine designed to generate performance indistinguishable from that of a human being.”
 
Basically, interact with it and see if it’s close to impossible to figure out if it human or not.

Caleb eventually meets AVA, a female-like android. AVA moves very humanlike and has a young female face. But her stomach and legs are see through, except wires and mechanics. AVA seems very curious about Caleb. And Caleb is equally impressed about AVA. After a series of sessions, the two seem to make a connection of sorts.
 
While this is going on, we get the sense that not all is as it seems. Nathan may not be revealing his true intentions, and regular power failures hint at something ominous to come.
 
The film is very Kubrick-like. Deep, artsy, sensual. The cinematography is amazing. The acting, especially by Oscar Isaac, really draws you in. The dialogue is very clever. They take very complicated concepts and make it simple and conversational. The movie, like most AI movies, tackle some big concepts: what it means to be human, the concept of life and death and the ethical treatment of androids or creatures with humanlike qualities.

The film is haunting and uneasy throughout. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I highly recommend it.