EX MACHINA

Starring: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac
Writer: Alex Garland
Director: Alex Garland

Young programmer Caleb (Gleeson) wins a competition to spend a week at the private estate of his company's CEO. When he arrives Nathan (Isaac), the CEO, invites him to take part in an experiment to test the artificial intelligence of his state-of-the-art robot creation Ava (Vikander).

Alex Garland's film raises some big questions about the nature of what it is to be human and the evolution of A.I. His script twists and turns neatly so that you're never entirely sure of what each character's motivation is, even when it's couched within the software of the beguiling Ava. It's often tense, often funny, occasionally nightmarish and just when you think you've predicted where it's going something will happen which will make you realise that you were fed a piece of misdirection earlier on (misdirection is also a theme of the story but I'll expand on that no further).

Gleeson is thoroughly believable as the eager to please coder attempting to come to terms with the opportunity of a lifetime. Isaac, meanwhile, makes the most of his role as the reclusive Nathan. His character is arguably the most under-written of the main three but his is still a performance with several layers. All of that said, it's Vikander's movie and she excels as Ava. Her movements are very precise, her performance is subtly off-kilter and she has a fascinating presence which makes it all too easy to sympathise with Caleb's predicament; Ava's a robot but she's intelligent and attractive. And she appears to be flirting with him...

The robot effects are stunningly brought to life, with Ava's transparent limbs and abdomen revealing components which are exquisitely rendered, futuristic yet credible. Special effects are used only when necessary, a nice move in a time where it must be tempting to trowel on the CGI. Here the effects serve the story which makes for an altogether more satisfying watch.

One issue I did have is that I felt the movie could have ended three or four minutes earlier and would have possibly been all the more effective for it. There's a certain point where if it had just cut to black I'd have been sitting there in stunned silence. As it was, proceedings rolled on further, adding very little other than allowing one of the characters to have their day in the sun. However, that's a very small criticism of what is an intelligent and intriguing film that will have you thinking about it long after the credits have rolled.