Ex Machina follows I.T employee Caleb, played by Domhnall Gleeson, as he is invited (via contest win) to spend a week in the middle of nowhere with his reclusive boss, technological genius Nathan (played by Oscar Isaac). Nathan's intention is to have Caleb spending the week studying his latest creation, a creation Nathan claims could be the first conscious artificial intelligence named Ava, played by Alicia Vikander. As the week progresses, and Caleb finds out more about Ava in his conversational sessions with her, he makes some startling discoveries that put Nathan's true motives in question…
To start, this film is a wonderfully refreshing take on the 'sci-fi movie'. Where every other film is seemingly galactic in scope, with spaceships, alien creatures, outer space battles and robots by the thousand, with Ex Machina you get a heavily toned down look into the future with a small cast, a single setting (Nathan's home/research station) and the only character that uses CG is not even fully computerised (Ava). The film is clearly on a large budget but it feels like a home-movie made with simplicity and a strong sense of material realism, without feeling lazy. The story also wastes ZERO time getting started; within about 10 minutes of film Caleb is introduced to Ava and the primary plot is underway. There is also no specific date or time given, nothing about the world outside of the immediate environment is addressed, besides the occasional movie or quote. This allows us to not have to worry about timescale; this could be happening now or it could be 30 years from now, the film lets us give our own estimation of how far away this is from happening. It's a very straightforward but brilliantly delivered aspect of the film.
The acting in this film is excellent. Gleeson, Isaac and Vikander all give excellent performances as the film's primary 3 characters. Oscar Isaac's Nathan oozes machismo arrogance, demonstrating himself to be the only guest he needs at his parties. Isaac takes this roles that combines scientific brilliance with a kind of rock star-ish carefree demeanour and underlines it all with a sly, almost aggressive need to control. Domhnall Gleeson's Caleb is a slightly traditional but very well played character with an understated and subtle performance, at least until the final half hour; here Gleeson unleashes a powerful and memorable finale performance of a torn man unsure of what is genuine and what is artificial. Alicia Vikander is outstanding as Ava; Ava's curiosity and her artificial emotional changes are excellently realised, her movements and her facial expressions are the perfect balance of human and robotic. You know exactly what Ava is clearly supposed to be thinking, but you never quite know what she is actually thinking and that is the beauty of Vikander's performance. It is a powerful blend of subtlety and childlike bluntness.
Garland's direction is really good! Ex Machina consistently changes its tone to really keep the audience guessing as to how it's going to continue. From the serious dramatic tension during a security system shutdown (the use of red lights and a serious lack of dialogue is superb) to the lighter more satirical side (a scene where Nathan spontaneously starts up a disco comes to mind), the story and script seldom give you any moments to contemplate on the style before changing it up again. The story gives us a great number of twists and turns, without anything being an obvious giveaway. Garland even addresses the plot turns/twists that we as an audience might have already considered (I admit I had). The finale gives us a strong, unexpected and immensely satisfying conclusion to the building tension between all 3 lead characters.
One of the primary standout elements of this film is it's use of dialogue, or lack thereof. As the early scenes rush off pages of expositional necessities, the story seem to gradually trim the dialogue as the story progresses. Some scenes have absolutely no words spoken at all and the 10 minute finale features an estimated maximum of 8 words. Garland demonstrates an excellent understanding of how to use human emotion to guide scenes over words, but then uses dialogue when required. It's a very solid balance that showcases the fullest spectrum of the cast's abilities, especially the intense chemistry between Gleeson and Vikander who give us a touching but unpredictable relationship through a glass panel, not visually dissimilar to Silence of the Lambs.
The soundtrack is really interesting as well, with simplicity to match the visuals, though not much in the way of originality. Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow have written an excellent electronic soundtrack that strikes at the core of what thrillers need in their music. With pulsating toneless synths, light chords and a dreamy quality, fans of the Mass Effect game series soundtracks will likely find enjoyment here. Musically there is not much to offer that hasn't been heard before, but you'd be lying if you said your heart wasn't in your throat the moment that slow pulsating synth hit you.
Overall Ex Machina is an excellent film with a great plot that's a truly refreshing approach to sci-fi. It's intelligent without being pretentious and it's simple without being patronising. The story on the cover is simple, a relationship between a man and a machine, but underneath there are so many underlying themes; it's a story about such issues as trust in relationships, what love is defined by, science vs man, man's primal need to control and men's attitude towards women. This is all told in a excellently simple story about 2 men testing a robot. Garland's direction is top notch, the acting is superb and the story is pleasantly unpredictable with a fun plot turn saved for the very end. I am shocked that Ex Machina is not up for more awards this Oscar season.
For fans of Science Fiction, this is an absolute must!