Review of Ex Machina (2015) by Ben L — 27 Oct 2015

What if the guy who designed Google decided his next project would be to design a robot with artificial intelligence? That's the basic premise of Ex Machina. Domhnall Gleeson plays the part of a programmer who is hired to test whether the robot has attained actual artificial intelligence.

It's a very dark and brooding movie with an extremely small cast. I was never really sure where they were trying to go with the tone and style of this movie. Was it supposed to be a thriller where we constantly question who Gleeson can trust? Or was it supposed to be a mind-bending sci-fi film that surprises me with big plot twists? Or is it some kind of philosophical movie that calls into question what makes us human and if something artificially manufactured can ever attain that status? All I know is that, with all those different directions/themes jammed into one movie, I was never fully engrossed in the story.

They certainly had me curious what would happen next, but I never cared what would happen next. It started out strong and had moments that were awesome, but somewhere along the line it became too surreal and odd.

It's like the movie was trying to keep me off balance so I'd be just as confused as Domhnall Gleeson's character. Instead I started to disengage with the story and lost my emotional investment.

Ex Machina is not a bad film, and I think I see why many people loved it, I just can't give it a strong recommendation.