Ex Machina [Movie Review]

I wanted to start this review with a line from Nietzsche. But not here, not yet. It may well come at the end.
No, first I should explain. I missed seeing this movie when it first hit theaters... I had to wait until it hit the second run screens.

 

The cradle of thought, held in a hand.

Why did I wait?

This movie was one of the most intelligent movies I've seen in a very long time. It was also one of the most tense. And lastly it was one of the most well shot.

5 out of 5 stars

Let's cover those three points.

No, that's not the original Jackson Pollock No. 5, 1948.
The real painting costs more then $140 million.
The movie's budget was $15 million.

Item 1: It was intelligent. Very intelligent. The screen writer is friends with an expert in neuroscience. Good start. Of course his friend thought that machines could never become sentient. I've studied some neuroscience, in a very limited capacity... and a lot of philosophy, and I would be hesitant to state an absolute. 

Seeing inside a robot is creepy. Not seeing inside a human
level of creepy, but still creepy.

The dialogues talked about all the right points, the different ideas behind artificial intelligence. Of course the basis of the movie is a standard turning test. Well standard is wrong, this is an unsettling Turing test. For one thing the human subject is face to face with the machine subject... and thankfully this is mentioned. Do not think for one minute the intelligence ends there... no, the movie was filled with deep questions, and strong plot.   

Did you know there is a British-Japanese ex-Ballet model
actress in the movie? I didn't. This was her first movie.

Item 2: It was tense. Not the sit on the edge of your seat expecting a shock scare kind of tense, but the slow building unease of knowing that something is wrong, something is very wrong. This movie is just dripping with tension. There is distrust layered on top of oppression. There is sexual tension. There is a general sense of unease, a feeling of imprisonment, and unending duplicity. Every dialogue is taking place on multiple levels. There are questions and answers, truth and lies... and it is very difficult to distinguish the two.

This is the one moment of levity in the entire movie,
a dance scene. Oh, there are other laughs... but not levity.

Item 3: This movie used really significant camera angels and imagery. It has been a long time since I felt I was able to use my film school training so well. I complained in Mad Max: Fury Road about a film technique that made me lose my suspension of disbelief. No this movie was layered with scenes that drew me deeper in. I had to reflect on the movie to realize how well crafted many of these scenes were.

There are going to be Spoilers Ahead!

The crux of the movie is split amongst daily sessions where Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson, Bill Weasley in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows parts 1 & 2) is interviewing / questioning Ava (Alicia Vikander). In each session there is a subtle power situation. Actually there are multiple levels of power occuring. At first blush one thinks that Ava is imprisoned, and it is true she is limited in her regions of movement. However so is Caleb. He can only go where he is allowed, and during his interviews with Ava, he is actually the one in the smaller glass box.

But lets go to the power situation. In film school you learn things like juxtaposed camera angles to show power differences. In this movie, that is very important. Pay attention to who is being looked up at, down at, or on equal levels. Watch as the power in the conversations shifts. And shift it does... strongly. It is impressive the way the power plays out in the film.

But that is not the only symbolic bit of in camera awesomeness. I'm giving away big spoilers here... but you have to watch Ava's reflection. When she is telling the truth, being honest... you see only her. When she is lying, deceiving (signs of true AI)... there is always a reflection. She is two faced. She is the machine avatar of Janus, the two faced Roman god who heralds beginnings and endings. (Like I said, a smart movie.)

I would say go and see this movie, but with it now running in the second run theaters, I guess I should say go and rent the movie, or watch it off Amazon. It is absolutely worth seeing. It is much like The Imitation Game, a brilliant but small film. There are only four actors, and one real location. It was rather low budget, mostly in camera, devoid of action sequences, and brilliant. It was also a movie to make you think. We need more of those. Desperately.

This is 5 stars not because I love the movie and will watch it over and over again, like I could do with my Disney Films, but it was a 5 star film for how much it made me think, how well it was filmed, and how much it kept you engrossed. It was an excellent film... and I do want to see it again, just not over and over.

I said I wanted to open with a Nietzsche quote, but instead I shall end with it.

“God is dead. God remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers? What was holiest and mightiest of all that the world has yet owned has bled to death under our knives: who will wipe this blood off us? What water is there for us to clean ourselves? What festivals of atonement, what sacred games shall we have to invent? Is not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we ourselves not become gods simply to appear worthy of it?” Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, section 125; The Madman. 

This quote is not irrelevant. I actually think that every single line in this quote fits the movie.   
  

I collected several posters from Ex Machina to use, and I think the one I used at the top was the most poignant. The 'look at my ass' poster down here is the next best... and the last one is too on the nose to be really good. Also, it mentions 28 Days Later, which was just an awful movie, and so in my opinion, not really worth mentioning.