3. Ex Machina
Desire, lust, and love are undoubtedly some of the strongest emotions that humans come equipped with, but can artificial intelligence become so sentient that it can experience those feelings too? Ex Machina (the directorial debut from Alex Garland, writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine) asks this and many more bold questions that raise so many provocative thoughts about the society we live in today, that it is hard not to call this one of the most intelligent and thought-provoking sci-fi thrillers of the current generation. You could probably go one step further and argue that it is one of the most original films ever made.
It all starts with the performances from the three leads involved (Oscar Isaac, Domnhall Gleeson, and Alicia Vikander) that instill an almost haunting presence to the narrative. To give away too much of the plot would be of a disservice to the viewer, so I’ll just say that Isaac is absolutely menacing and weirdly psychotic as the genius creator of the android played by Vikander, whom also delivers a remarkable performance filled with so many little new nuances and tics in her facial expressions and overall body movements. These two steal the show in a game of testing the audience to see if they can figure out just who is spewing lies and manipulating Gleeson…
Read the rest of Robert Kojder’s ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ review here.
Or, if audio is your thing, there’s the Flickering Myth Podcast review below.
https://soundcloud.com/flickeringmythpodcast/episode-106-ex-machina-2015
Originally published July 13, 2015. Updated April 15, 2018.
