4 stars out of 5
Sci-fi, you see, while seemingly about the FUTURE, is really about NOW, ya dig? Godzilla was about nuclear annihilation and Planet of the Apes was about civil rights and Ex Machina is about… uh… Google. We like looking stuff up but then we’re, like, afraid of these companies having all our info.
So we take that underlying premise and wrap it in a “artificial intelligence is good but what if the computers get too smart?” storyline (what is this? Avengers: Age of Ultron?) and throw in a sexy robot lady and this could have been monumentally stupid. But, it’s not! It’s smart and creepy and really cool. And did I mention there’s a sexy robot in it.
Our main characters are isolated here, reminding me of both 2001 and the awesome Moon. Actually, a little more like Moon because Ex Machina shares a similar artsy, very quiet feel. We’ve got three individuals: search-engine zillionaire genius Oscar Isaac (he was Llewyn Davis), earnest young fella Domhnall Gleeson (he was one of Ron Weasley’s older brothers), and sexy robot Alicia Vikander (I don’t know nuthin’ about her but she looks kinda like Natalie Portman). The young guy works at the search-engine company and wins a contest to visit the boss’s secret compound. Arriving there, he finds out that he gets to test the A.I. on a sexy robot.
Oscar Isaac is terrific in this movie. I hope he continues to get a lot of work, maybe roles that Mark Ruffalo is too busy to take. Isaac really has fun here as a type-A jerk with a chill, friendly exterior yet with an air of menace always a millisecond away. Gleeson, as the young fella (who represents us, the viewer!), is a perfect balance to his boss: He’s introverted and under-confident. Completing the triumvirate: oh, right, a sexy robot. There hasn’t been a robot this sexy since the Bride of Pin•Bot.
Scenes play out in this “desert island” setting, seemingly just a few weeks in the future. Feels a little like a play, a little like a short story. Writer/director Alex Garland (who wrote the novel The Beach, which I never read or saw, but who also wrote 28 Days Later, which was great and one of these days I’ll finally buy the soundtrack) slowly, slowly builds the tension in this thriller, as things get more disturbing, more claustrophobic (we’re constantly indoors). Oh, this soundtrack is excellent too, really helping set the cold, uncomfortable mood. I noticed Geoff Barrow from Portishead in the credits.
So, really nice work all around: writing, direction, performances, music.
And also, there’s a sexy robot.
Jack Silbert, curator