Another in the metastasizing genre of films exploring artificial intelligence, Ex Machina is sharply written in places and beautifully shot. The special effects that render the female robot (Ava) are elegantly realized, suggesting a human skeleton encased in glass and light.
A mid-level employee (Caleb) at a Google-like corporation is seemingly picked at random to deliver a Turing Test ( a test of the ability of a machine to impersonate human traits) to the company's latest AI creation. Promptly delivered by helicopter to a remote bunker in what looks like Alaska (actually Norway), Caleb engages in a battle of wits with the company's megalomaniacal genius. Suffice it to say that Ava's gender is not accidental and the film begins to suggest a creepy take on the Pygmalion myth.
When I say creepy, it's creepy in the film and also of the film. Is this a film about AI or about duplicity between the sexes? Certainly it's both, which might have been interesting, but the AI part of the equation is more convincing than the films gender stereotypes. While the ending sugarcoats what has preceded it, appearing to give Ex Machina a feminist slant, too much garden variety misogyny has rolled under the bridge to make it palatable.
On the plus side, the acting is quite good, especially Oscar Isaac's turn as Steve Jobs on steroids. Ex Machina is shot very precisely and well edited. The main set, a camera infested high security bunker, all glass and concrete, is almost a character on its own. It is certainly a well made film and much of the dialogue concerning consciousness, human and otherwise, is sharp and interesting. What nags at me is the prime conceit of a male creator shaping his feminine creation. Not much of a brave new world.
