Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Alex Garland
Cast
Domhnall Gleeson,
Alicia Vikander,
Oscar Isaac,
Sonoya Mizuno,
Corey Johnson,
Claire Selby
Genre
Drama,
Science Fiction
Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a contest to spend a week with the CEO. When he arrives, Caleb finds out the nature of this trip isn't social, but that he has been brought there to act as the human component in a Turing test evaluating a first-of-its-kind feat of Artificial Intelligence.
Ex Machina is gripping and terrifying. It opens up room for an interesting discussion about modern innovation, and where the line can be drawn, if at all, between man and machine. This film truly keeps me at the edge of my seat with plenty of surprising twists and turns as well as intriguing mysteries all throughout.
A psychological thriller with sci-fi elements and an ethical dilemma at the center? Sign me up. An exploration of men, the machines they create, and the consequences of that creation that holds your attention from beginning to end.
Garland's decision to shorten the title from the original Latin phrase "Deus ex Machina," or "God from the machine," should already give you an idea of the philosophical elements at play in this film. 'Ex Machina' is a visually striking, utterly discomforting, modern fusion of Kubrick's technology in "2001: A Space Odyssey" with Shakespeare's paternalism in "The Tempest." Garland makes it clear that he is not interested in explaining the clockwork of A.I, but rather the ethical dilemmas of A.I. If you allow this artistic license, then what you have is a phenomenally tense game of cat-and-mouse that reveals some ugly truths about humanity along the way. Garland is cynical not only in his prognosis for humanity, but in his heavily referential retrospective of humanity. If you are not so open to Garland's artistic license, however, I think '2001' and 'Her' are both a tier above in bridging the gap between film portrayals of A.I. as the Terminator and A.I. as Siri. Either way, 'Ex Machina' is a masterwork in cinematic and literary genius that I highly, highly recommend watching and mulling over when life as it is seems tough.
Screenwriter Alex Garland is right at home in his directorial debut set in the near future, and this film sets the tone, and the bar, for Annihilation and Devs. Each scene balances a deceptively simple dramatic dynamic as the protagonist's goals are clear and obstacles mount, but Garland situates the film's dramatic question within a web of complex ethical and existential questions. It's a delight to watch such continuity of vision from a novelist turned screenwriter who was clearly born to direct.
Total Film
It plays like Frankenstein meets Blade Runner via Hitchcock haunted by the ghosts of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, in a film that’s both highly literate and steeped in tense cat-and-mouse chills. Thematically epic – it demands to be seen at least twice and should fuel hours of debate — structurally it’s as lithe as Ava’s perfect mesh frame.
The Playlist by Oliver Lyttelton
The picture is a triumph: it's arguably Garland’s tightest and most fascinating screenplay to date, brought to life with meticulous filmmaking and sensational performances. It's the first great film of 2015.
Philadelphia Inquirer by Steven Rea
A riveting sci-fi investigation into humankind's experiments with A.I. (with pages from Spike Jonze's Her and Stanley Kubrick's 2001), Ex Machina marks the extremely able directing debut of British writer Alex Garland, of the novels "The Beach" and "The Tesseract," and of the screenplays for Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" . . . and "Sunshine."
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
Shrewdly imagined and persuasively made, Ex Machina is a spooky piece of speculative fiction that's completely plausible, capable of both thinking big thoughts and providing pulp thrills. But even saying that doesn't do this quietly unnerving film full justice.
Wall Street Journal by Joe Morgenstern
Sizzlingly smart and agreeably sententious, Mr. Garland’s film transcends some all-too-human imperfections with gorgeous images, astute writing and memorably strong performances.
RogerEbert.com by Matt Zoller Seitz
A rare and welcome exception to that norm.
Total Film by Rosie Fletcher
It plays like Frankenstein meets Blade Runner via Hitchcock haunted by the ghosts of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, in a film that’s both highly literate and steeped in tense cat-and-mouse chills. Thematically epic – it demands to be seen at least twice and should fuel hours of debate — structurally it’s as lithe as Ava’s perfect mesh frame.
Tampa Bay Times by Steve Persall
Garland's original screenplay brims with intelligence, unafraid to let characters speak over our heads. Yet it remains a pulpy delight, due largely to its uniquely mad scientist.
Portland Oregonian by Marc Mohan
To dismiss Ex Machina as just another robot movie would be like calling the Grand Canyon a hole in the ground. It's one of the most original, smart, thought-provoking science fiction movies of recent years.
Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz
It's great when a movie messes with your head. And Ex Machina, screenwriter Alex Garland's directorial debut, does just that, pretty much from start to finish. The writer of "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine" purports to examine A.I., or artificial intelligence. What he's really after is something at once more exotic and more relatable — and infinitely less predictable: human nature.
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
[Mr. Garland] plays with visual contrasts — Mr. Isaac’s compact, muscled body and Mr. Gleeson’s long, drooping one, picture windows that look out onto an expansively lush landscape and windowless rooms that register as upmarket prison cells — that dovetail with the narrative’s multiple, amusingly deployed dualities: confinement and liberation, agency and submission, mind and body.
IndieWire
The director ensures this chamber piece of moral conundrums never seems too heavy-handed; his fluids camera roams through each room so that at no time does the theatrical set-up feel like a limitation.
CineVue
Ex Machina exposes the insecurity of the male ego by showing his lust for creation as simply another strand in the patriarchal power game. The film's trajectory forms a thrilling, exciting corrective.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
This is bewitchingly smart science fiction of a type that’s all too rare. Its intelligence is anything but artificial.
Empire by Dan Jolin
Stylish, elegant, tense, cerebral, satirical and creepy. Garland’s directorial debut is his best work yet, while Vikander’s bold performance will short your circuits.
Variety by Guy Lodge
Ex Machina turns out to be far wittier and more sensual than its coolly unblemished exterior implies; it’s a trick that mirrors Ava’s own apparent Turing-test-defying evolution.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
With a sly dreaminess, Vikander steals the movie from the two males.
Time Out London by Trevor Johnston
Vikander’s spellbinding, not-quite-human presence (her synthetic skin is silky yet creepy) keeps us watching. But an only-too-obvious ‘twist’ and some clunky plotting...drain much of the credibility from a story which promised so much.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Dalton
The story ends in a muddled rush, leaving many unanswered questions. Like a newly launched high-end smartphone, Ex Machina looks cool and sleek, but ultimately proves flimsy and underpowered. Still, for dystopian future-shock fans who can look beyond its basic design flaws, Garland’s feature debut functions just fine as superior pulp sci-fi.
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