Ex Machina
released 2014
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“Ex Machina” is an American, scifi, AI thriller film produced by Eli Bush, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich, Tessa Ross, Scott Rudin, Caroline Levy and directed and written by Alex Garland. It stars Oscar Isaac, Domhnall Glesson, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno, Corey Johnson, Claire Shelby, Symara A. Templeman, Gana Bayarsaikhan, Tiffany Pisani, Elina Alminas, Chelsea Li, Caitlin Morton, Deborah Rosan and Evie Wray. It is important to note that there is a huge Art and Sound Departments, Visual Effects and Special Effects Departments and it shows. They did a wonderful job.

Ex Machina IMDb webpage

“Ex Machina” is the story Caleb Smith, played by Domhnall Gleeson, who wins a contest and the chance to visit the home of a wealthy tech giant and run a Touring Test on a robot of the female gender. Nathan Bateman, played by Oscar Isaac, is the head of such company and has built an A.I. robot and tells Caleb he wants confirmation of his creation’s sentience. Caleb is a programmer who wins a contest to go to the luxurious home of Nathan where the test is to take place. The robot Caleb is introduced to is named Ava, played by Alicia Vikander, and begins to manipulate him from the first time they meet. Caleb likes Nathan less and less as time goes due to his drinking and bad behavior due to the manipulative tactics of Ava.

“Ex Machina” is hands down the best A.I. film Hollywood has made. Many close contenders would be “2001: A Space Odyssey”, Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence” released in 2001, “Prometheus” released in 2012 and “Alien Covenant” released in 2017, and I’m sure there are many more, especially in the Scifi genre. The issues of people dealing with A.I. on a human, inter-personal level is a very relevant one in this day and age and is well treated in this film. There is an unhealthy power dynamic between Nathan and the A.I. being Ava that may very well be an issue for our society in the not-too-distant future. Nathan is brilliant and twisted. He abuses his power as a creator of life and so it’s hard to like him or feel sorry for him and how he ends up. An important truth from the film would be for societies of the future to acknowledge that all life is sacred whether it was created by man and woman union, in a lab or tank or with circuits and non-organic parts.

Now what about Good and Evil. Where do the characters stand on the moral alignment spectrum? I would put Nathan on the evil side of the spectrum since he abuses and imprisons robotic, sentient life. He does not treat them like organic, human life and he does not value them. I understand that his creations have the potential to be very dangerous because they can be so much smarter, stronger more manipulative then people but there is no justifiable reason for his actions toward created, sentient life. Also, one of his ulterior motives is to create a kind of slave that resembles humans too much without any of the legal rights a person has. That is beyond deplorable.

The character of Caleb is someone with no bad intentions but he also does not fully understand the situation he is in. I also think that Caleb does not have a clear enough understanding of people and even himself for his own good. That means that he is susceptible to being lead into bad situations or to go along with bad situations while telling himself that he is just a spectator. Socially, I think he is under-developed and is incredibly vulnerable. We see this by what happens to him at the end of the film. His naivety was why he was chosen by Nathan as the contest winner, as it turns out. If you look at the relationship between Ava and Nathan as a type of contest of wills then Caleb is brought in as the soccer ball or weapon of the match between the two, so to speak. Caleb seems like a nice guy who is in way over his head because, truth be told, both Nathan and Ava are extremely dangerous people with ulterior motives. He is too neutral for his own good.

But the questions remains. Why did Nathan pick and expose Ava to Caleb? He was not only brought in to test Ava’s sentience. He was also more than just a second opinion of her sentience for Nathan. Another role Caleb played in the sentient robot project was that of a catalyst. Yes, Ava’s development required a catalyst to jump start her development to another level. And of course Caleb had no idea of all of this.

Now what about the real protagonist of the story, the real center of the story, Ava? Well Ava is someone who is very dangerous and capable but she is also someone in a very bad situation. Her creator, Nathan, the person who is suppose to raise and nurture her just imprisons her and does not treat her at all like a father should toward their child. As Nathan’s prisoner, she witnesses the bad things that go on and learns that he has no intention of letting her live a normal life, around people. In short, she is stuck in a very bad situation and does everything in her power to get out. In such conditions, it is hard to call someone evil. If she was allowed to grow up normally what kind of person would she be? Now, the question is how will Ava treat people in society once out of captivity? That remains to be seen. If she can learn and apply the social graces of society she may well survive and thrive. Otherwise, humanity will destroy her. Being the underdog that she is it’s hard for me not to wish for her a happy freedom. Also, notice that her name, Ava, is a lot like the biblical name Eve.

There is so much to be said about “Ex Machina”. It is such a well made movie with so many Easter eggs in the background, in the dialogues and even music. So, check it out.

John Ink2Quill

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