Dustin: 4.5 of 5 stars Nick: 4.5 of 5 stars Average: 4.5 of 5 stars (Tweety canary)
Dustin: Ex Machina pits man against machine as a man has to decide whether a robot has true artificial intelligence, and, dare I ask?, a soul.
In Ex Machina, Oscar Isaac plays Nathan, a modern day Geppetto who wants to make a real woman to make up for never having a wife. He creates Ava (Alicia Vikander), a sexy, female Pinocchio, with a personality so real she can fool Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), one of Nathan’s employees who provides a moral counterbalance to Nathan... making him Jiminy Cricket in my analogy?
Nick: Nathan is perhaps the most memorable antagonist of the past decade. He’s a nerdy frat bro who is extremely menacing either using his intelligence or the muscles he is constantly crafting. When he is not crafting abs or robots he gets drunk. And like you said the tagline of the film from Nathan’s point of view could be, “The one thing that didn’t come easily for Nathan was women so he invented one!”
Nick: Nathan is perhaps the most memorable antagonist of the past decade. He’s a nerdy frat bro who is extremely menacing either using his intelligence or the muscles he is constantly crafting. When he is not crafting abs or robots he gets drunk. And like you said the tagline of the film from Nathan’s point of view could be, “The one thing that didn’t come easily for Nathan was women so he invented one!”
Dustin: Nathan was perfectly set up--a perfect synergy of writing, acting, cinematography and direction. Before we even see him, we already have a creepy feeling about him, without one word of dialogue. Then, even after we meet him and he gives reassurances he’s a chillaxed everyman, we can’t shake the bad feeling we have about him. I can’t think of a villain who gave me the chills from the first moment since Darth Vader (although Javier Bardem’s villains in No Country for Old Men and Skyfall come close).
Nick: I seriously thought of both of those villains too! That’s quite a compliment to his character.
Dustin: This movie did so much right that the few miscalculations come off as nit-picky in comparison. It has many subtle plants and payoffs that will please attentive viewers. I don’t want to elaborate because I don’t want to spoil much, but a good payoff isn’t easy to pull off.
*THE REST OF THE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*
*THE REST OF THE REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*
Nick: While I initially had a problem with the ending it has grown on me in the past couple days. It might be because it answers that question of “do robots have souls?” Or it’s just so shocking to have a character end up that way.
Dustin: I also found the ending troubling at first, but after pondering it for a few days as well, I don’t think it could have ended any other way.
Nick: I think it could have ended in a slightly different fashion. The way Ava leaves Caleb is chilling. It’s the part that I’ve yet to accept and answers the question if she does have a soul its a sociopathic one. Ava could’ve taken Nathan’s keycard and Caleb would have still been stranded on that island, but he would still be able to get food and live. Where Caleb is left he can’t get to anything and will starve to death. It’s not often our protagonist ends up worse than the antagonist, but it happened and I have to deal.
Dustin: I also would’ve liked things to have turned out better for Caleb, as he’s the everyman the audience is supposed to relate to. But I think any “fairer” ending for him would have been out of character for Ava and affected my suspension of disbelief.
Nick: It wouldn’t have for me. I think by leaving Caleb there she treats him more cruelly than Nathan, which kind of hurts my belief. Leaving Caleb stranded on the island is still cruel, but it’s not a slow death.
Dustin: I think Ava, not being human, is capable of being colder than even Nathan.
I was also intrigued by the Kyoko character (Sonoya Mizuno). I had a feeling there was more to her than initially presented. Nathan says she doesn’t speak English, but she seemed to understand everything that was going on. I thought she was either another AI, or perhaps a Japanese corporate spy coming to steal Nathan’s secrets. (I don’t think casting a Japanese actress in that role was a coincidence--I think it was intentional misdirection.) But the scope of the movie didn’t seem large enough for a corporate espionage subplot, so I correctly guessed she was AI. Again, another element of the movie that was set up very well.
Nick: I thought Kyoko was either an AI who didn’t have the ability to speak or a concubine who didn’t know English, but learned through being around Nathan. So I thought she would try to tell Nathan what was going on and that’s why the camera would focus on her whenever there was an air of mistrust. But when the Disco dance went down it became obvious for me that she was indeed a sexy AI who can’t talk, i.e. Nathan’s perfect woman.
It’s amusing as well the two women in this film can be described as objects who want to be considered equals, but are either kept in a locked room or forced to serve.
Dustin: The places in the film that had me not quite buying it were the power failures that were timed perfectly for the plot. I figured Ava might be able to cause them because of how they were timed, but I wondered why Caleb didn’t suspect this earlier, as he seemed much more intelligent.
Nick: I thought the film was trying to make it seem like Nathan was causing them to make Caleb think he was alone with Ava, and since Nathan is seemingly untrustworthy when he tells Caleb he’s not causing them it doesn’t convince.
Nick: I thought Kyoko was either an AI who didn’t have the ability to speak or a concubine who didn’t know English, but learned through being around Nathan. So I thought she would try to tell Nathan what was going on and that’s why the camera would focus on her whenever there was an air of mistrust. But when the Disco dance went down it became obvious for me that she was indeed a sexy AI who can’t talk, i.e. Nathan’s perfect woman.
It’s amusing as well the two women in this film can be described as objects who want to be considered equals, but are either kept in a locked room or forced to serve.
Dustin: The places in the film that had me not quite buying it were the power failures that were timed perfectly for the plot. I figured Ava might be able to cause them because of how they were timed, but I wondered why Caleb didn’t suspect this earlier, as he seemed much more intelligent.
Nick: I thought the film was trying to make it seem like Nathan was causing them to make Caleb think he was alone with Ava, and since Nathan is seemingly untrustworthy when he tells Caleb he’s not causing them it doesn’t convince.
Dustin: I thought that could be it too. I figured the timing was too perfect, so either Ava or Nathan was causing them, but I couldn’t fathom why this didn’t occur to Caleb. It was out of character given how intelligent they had established him to be.
Nick: Caleb actually asks Nathan if he is causing them so he does question them as to which Nathan replies he is not. Then the next day he interviews Ava she confesses to causing them. So its not like it was a mystery for long and Caleb did question them if that makes you like the film any more than you already do.
Nick: Caleb actually asks Nathan if he is causing them so he does question them as to which Nathan replies he is not. Then the next day he interviews Ava she confesses to causing them. So its not like it was a mystery for long and Caleb did question them if that makes you like the film any more than you already do.
Dustin: Regardless, he seemed a little uncharacteristically careless around them. Otherwise, this is easily one of the smartest films I’ve seen in a long time. I think it approaches Birdman and Whiplash in my list of favorite movies I’ve seen recently.
Nick: I often think that a category for the Oscars should be Best Scene. My pick for the year, so far, would be Ava getting dressed at the end of the film while Caleb watches her. It was so gratifying and yet so small.
Dustin: That’s what she said!
Dustin: That’s what she said!
In conclusion, get off your Internets and go see Ex Machina!
*spoilers*
ReplyDeleteAfter your recommendation and the RLM message board, I went to see this movie, and I wholeheartedly agree with almost everything here. It also avoids the common "mad robot" tropes such as insanity (she is completely aware of what she does), superpowered robots (Nathan nearly overpowers Ava and kills Kyoko), and Terminator action beats.
I would say the best scene is the snuff closet scene, with all the earlier prototypes. From a feminist angle, the ending is bittersweet because she achieves independence while forsaking everything about her past (her looks, the man who helped her, her [justifably] father).
Alas, this film does not pass the Bechdel test. Apparantly, a silent conversation does not count as a conversation.