Review of Ex Machina (2015) by Heatherm — 04 May 2015

This movie was fantastic to watch for so many reasons. There is incredibly acting from everyone in the film, but particularly Oscar Isaac, who seems to light up every film and character he inhabits. The beautiful complex house the inventor lives in is so reactive that it becomes its own character and its own threat, as do the isolated woods and mountains that surround it.

The dialogue is tightly structured and delivered throughout, in turns hilarious and horrifying, with its precision accentuated by the occurrence of only one-on-one conversations. The story itself is darkly engaging, becoming more tense and more frightening, and building to a series of grotesque climaxes as the film explores the consequences of building a truly sentient machine.

Others have complained that the narrative of AI robot gone wrong is not exactly a new or refreshing concept, which might be true, but the elements that make up the film are so striking that the final product is striking to see.