Ex Machina

As a matter of fact, the premise is pretty simple and builds on the psychology of two characters and one android. It is nice that films like this one get to be filmed these days, but the more of them there is, the more critical I am towards them and here everything stands and falls by the premise, which is not bad, but it is a base for a rather small-scale film. At least the ending made everything pretty clear. (05/06/2015)

A gender chess game for four players. Eight years after its premiere, and in the context of Garland’s two subsequent films, Ex Machina has proven to be not only a shining directorial debut, but also a curse. Based on this film, Garland, who served as both director and screenwriter, has been inappropriately pigeonholed in the sci-fi and fantasy genre. As in his later films, however, the genre is merely a stylistic framework not for reflections grounded in science fiction and fantasy, but for interpersonal and relationship contemplations. Garland is fascinated by artificial intelligence as a field that mirrors gender issues, particularly in the sense of consciously and unconsciously stylised performance, as well as the observation, adoption and use of roles or codes that underlie most human interactions, even though they are artificial and unnatural at their core, or rather they are not inherent to our unique personalities. At the same time, Ex Machina examines the objectification of women and the extent to which we perceive the real personality on the other side of interpersonal interactions between members of the opposite sexes or, conversely, whether we merely project gender codes and patterns onto the other’s personality. It’s actually not surprising then that, on the one hand, the film is enthusiastically embraced by geeks who see themselves as Nathan, even if they are rather Caleb, while on the other hand, some paradoxically accuse it of sexism and objectification based on an interpretation that is equally limited and blind in principle. (29/07/2022)

A minimalist, visually attuned film, punctuated by LEDs, a polished eco-house in pristine nature, ambient atmosphere and ethereal music. As long as there's philosophising over AI vs human and small but clearly outlined and fairly consistent emotions are brought to the surface, everything is perfectly fine. It's a shame about the stilted finale that doesn’t deliver anything extra, but Garland is good. (23/09/2015)

Ex Machina is a sensitive and engaging depiction of artificial intelligence shrouded in mystery with a pleasant sci-fi feel. The actress playing the female android is great. But the surprising twist and the way it is used dramatically proves that screenwriter and director Alex Garland might not be as clever as his brilliant male heroes. (23/05/2015)

If Alex Garland put as much effort into elaborating the psychological and symbolic aspects as he did designing the environment and pretending to be witty, this would certainly be a very complex film. Unfortunately, this is something I call hipster sci-fi - a film focused on looking good and giving a strong first impression. As soon as you take his game seriously and start a discussion with him, you will find that he is saying semi-apathetic and nicely formulated phases, whilst pretending to be revelatory. Sure, in front of Pollock, every conversation sounds a little smarter and the female beauty near Klimt hurts even more, but Ex Machina is much better at dancing disco, showing great macho poses by Oscar Isaac and presenting the murderously fragile sex appeal of Alicia Vikander (when she is mass-produced, I will marry her), rather than amazing through the somewhat funny tactile details and mannerist backlights, which importantly tell us that Ex Machina is not just fun history. But it's really nothing more. Joseph Kosinski goes indie, for better or worse. [70%] (29/04/2015)