# Ex Machina (2015)


Over the weekend, on the plane from Chicago to Seattle, I watched *Ex Machina*, a film that I'd been meaning to see since it got a bunch of press in the Oscar season.

*Ex Machina* describes the 'Turing Test' trial of a newly invented AI wherein a lowly code monkey visits his Sergey-Brin-*esque* boss to interview the feminine robot. It first feels like the whole thing might play out a bit like *Her*, but the filmmakers do a good job of keeping the plot just a step or two ahead of your intuitions.<!--more-->

![poster](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Ex-machina-uk-poster.jpg)

Some overly necessary suspension-of-disbelief notwithstanding, I really enjoyed this film. The cinematography really hearkens back to a more understated style of science fiction, not unlike favorites of mine: *[2001: A Space Odyssey](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/?ref_=nv_sr_1)*, *[Moon](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1182345/)* and *[The Andromeda Strain](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066769/?ref_=nv_sr_1)*, among others.

In a scifi market saturated with thrillers like *The Martian* and *Interstellar*, I found it immensely refreshing to watch a scifi film that focused on the particulars of an encounter with technology rather than a 120 minute roller-coaster of a plot.

The film is at its best in the tight, claustrophobic scenes wherein the protagonist grapples with the peculiarity of his situation and ultimately what it means to be human - a not uncommon scifi trope. However cliched this may seam, the brilliance by which *Ex Machina* explores and develops its small cast gives an interesting twist on the "human encounter with AI" premise.

Though, as I alluded to, *Ex Machina* isn't without its faults. I may be pontificating a bit here, but it really makes no sense that this billionaire tech mogul could simultaneously solve the problems of creating a 'conscious' AI and the physical construction of a believably lifelike humanoid robot. And, that he could do all of that by himself, which is loosely implied.

It’s not a terribly long mental leap, but I found myself to be rolling my eyes a bit when Caleb — the visitor — asked several technical questions about Ava’s — the AI’s — natural language processing algorithms when he himself didn’t recognize the absurdity of how large a development was.

Taking that as granted, the only other 'problem' I had with the film was it's ending. (**Spoiler Warning!**) I'm not really sure what I was supposed to read into the fact that Ava leaves Caleb in the locked mansion - presumably to die? I liked that it didn't wrap up too cleanly, and Nathan's - tech billionaire - demise was fitting, but it all felt a bit cold. Which I guess was the intended effect, so chalk this up as a success rather than a failing.

All in all, I'd really enjoy seeing a return to the small-cast philosophizing scifi of the past. *Ex Machina* displays that such a format is still viable - perhaps now more than ever. Solid film. Would recommend a viewing.