Review of Ex Machina (2015) by Bradley W — 02 Jan 2016

Ex Machina is a haunting and surreal experience that left me speechless, as a visual portrait of what it means to be human and a unique science fiction film with ideas and themes beyond what I expected.

Alicia Vikander is a revelation as Ava. Her performance is astonishing, creating a character that is both sympathetic and scary at the same time. She may seem innocent, but a hint of secrecy in her performance kept me fascinated.

She has definitely put herself near the top of my actresses to look for in the future. Oscar Isaac gets better every time I see him. His performance as Nathan is brutish yet layered, as we see a lonely man who enjoys the power that he holds over his victims.

Its truly a great character and he brings everything he has to it. Dohmhall Gleeson is absolutely fantastic. His sweet performance as Caleb perfectly captures his naive nature, as we slowly see him grow feelings for Ava and we wonder if the feelings are being reciprocated.

Its really fascinating seeing Gleeson and Vikander perform together, the film really shines with them together. The ideas and themes in this film resonated with me as a science fiction fan, and also as someone who thinks about artificial intelligence and what it could mean for humanity.

Watching this film was like a episode of The Twilight Zone, but with much more depth. Ex Machina is a film that I continue to think about and debate in my head as I think about it, and if thats what the creators intended than they have succeeded.