Review of Ex Machina (2015) by Qi Z — 15 Feb 2016
What strikes the viewer first is the aesthetics and the pace of the story. The gray sky, green mountain and rushing cascade, flows into a compound of research facility. "Nathan", the billionaire and creator of AI occupies a spacious yet somewhat claustrophobic compound. His bristle and jocular manner unnerves Caleb who was selected to participate in a project. The project is to test where the AI has true consciousness.
"This is not the achievement of men, but achievement of the gods". Caleb gushed. But things get gradually somber and grave, ended in a denouement no one has foreseen. It turned out the test is whether the AI can manipulative a human's consciousness.
What kind of consciousness can a creation has if there creator is an egoistic, manipulative man like "Nathan"? Consciousness is a monstrosity without any moral grounding. Hence the strangely way violence are handled, and the apathetic calm in the AI through out the whole process. One feels sorry for Caleb, with his only downfall in projecting his own compassion to others.
This review of Ex Machina (2015) was written by Qi Z on 15 Feb 2016.
Ex Machina has generally received very positive reviews.
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