Ex Machina

Ex Machina is the directorial debut of Alex Garland. Having made an early career as a novelist (The Beach, The Tesseract, The Coma), Garland adapted The Beach for director Danny Boyle. This relationship was obviously a good one, as it spawned several other collaborations for the pair, including 28 Days Later and Sunshine.
Establishing himself as a significant screenwriter, Garland went on to write Never Let Me Go and Dredd. Directing seems the next logical step for this talented writer, who employs distinctive themes with each project.

Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is a computer programmer working for Bluebook. We meet Caleb early on and are subject to his winning of an in-house competition to spend a week with Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) - Calebs boss and head of Bluebook.
Rather than head to the top floor of his building, Caleb is flown to an undisclosed location, where Nathan works in isolation on classified projects.

Calebs destination is hidden and secretive, yet clearly well financed and self-sufficient. We're soon introduced to Nathan. A middle-aged academic with an assured sense of self-discipline.
It would appear this competition is an opportunity for Caleb to pick the brains of a billionaire CEO, witnessing first hand the benefits of creating the code for a successful search engine at the tender age of thirteen (as is the case with Nathan).

Nathan is seen exercising and eating well throughout the films duration. Nathan likes his alcohol too, but as each new day dawns he is never idle.
From Calebs perspective Nathan is a formidable individual, who demands respect. In contrast, Caleb might be good at his job, but is presented as an inferior man, clearly ill at ease with his isolated surrounds. This is a purposeful dynamic which puts both Caleb and the audience on the back foot.

After presenting Ava to Caleb (a significant step forward in the world of artificial intelligence), Nathan puts forward a scintillating challenge. In an effort to distinguish the full extent of Avas capabilities, Nathan would like Caleb to give Ava the Turing Test - a test conceived by Alan Turing to distinguish true, independent thought.

Ava is a fully functional female robot. She is beautiful and inquisitive - fascinated by the sudden appearance of Caleb. The Turing test begins resulting in significant data - all appears to be going well. The laboratory suffers random power failures however - the problem never isolated or solved. The power fails several times during Caleb and Avas interviews, leading Ava to disclose secrets about Nathans full intentions.
Without warning Garland has thrust us into a game of cat and mouse - and robot! Both human and artificial relationships are put to the test. Manipulate(e) and manipulator befall each of the principle players.

Despite the single local and minimal cast (Nathan has a single assistant named Kyoko), Ex Machina is incredibly captivating, with the claustrophobic environs adding much to the mounting tension.
Ex Machina is a terrific addition to the robot/A.I. sub-genre. Garalnd has devised and executed a stylish and taught drama. A thought provoking sci-fi which brings questions about our humanity and it's future to the fore. Along with Blomkamps Chappie, Ex Machina looks at consciousness within the digital realm - and the implications of it's existence.

If our betters exist by our own design then where does humanity go from here?!

4/5


Poster image courtesy: http://insidetherockposterframe.blogspot.com.au
Illustration by Jock