Ex - Machina film review

This is a sci-fi film from 2015, it was written by Alex Garland and it was also superbly directed by Garland too. Produced by DNA films and Films 4 it makes an amazing low budget British film. It has Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander; their acting is exceptional, especially Oscar Isaac's character (Nathan) who is an alpha male alcoholic whose character is compelling and truly pulls you towards the story. Domhnall Gleeson plays 'Caleb', a computer genius whose curiosity gets the better of him when he falls in love with an AI Nathan created, the relationship between the AI and Caleb is gripping because you truly feel the connection between the two and at the end it turns out she has no feelings towards him, this compels the viewer because they then realise that Caleb was lied to this entire time. The AI that Nathan created (Ava) who is played by Alicia Vikander is fascinating because the visual effects on her robot skin is so realistic but her feelings are so real that you ignore the fact that she is a machine and you start to think that it is just two humans talking when her and Caleb speak.

The soundtrack for Ex-Machina is exceptional because all the songs follow a similar sound but they are also different in a subtle way and this makes the film follow a certain 'theme' due to the soundtrack adding atmosphere to the film. Even though this film is a sci-fi it doesn't follow the typical sci-fi because they're is a grassy landscape with a high-tech laboratory inside the rocks. The scenery really makes this film as the contrast between nature and smooth architecture adds the the beautiful cinematography. However, the film's general content isn't a lot to go on as there is just 2 people in the middle of nowhere (three if you want to count Ava) so as you can imagine, it's hard to create very much content from this; although the fact that it is such a short film makes up for this.

This film raises a few moral questions which makes for a good watch. For instance, is it right to keep an AI locked up in a room if they have true feelings? Is it right to Make an AI in the first place if we don't know what they're capable of? Or is it right to build robots to serve as your 'slave'? These questions get the viewer to think and therefore making this an exceptional film as you don’t just 'watch' it.

Caleb is rather gullible as well as clever because he gives into Ava but at the same time he is an exceptional hacker. As Domhnall Gleeson is playing a character who is gullible and clever, which would be quite hard to do but Domhnall does this superbly. I would definitely recommend this film to anyone who likes dystopian fiction or a good thriller and anyone who loves an unexpected ending.