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#358 - Ex Machina
Alex Garland, 2015
A computer programmer is invited to a remote research facility by his tech-genius boss in order to help him test the self-awareness of an artificially intelligent gynoid.
Novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland made his name by writing screenplays for science-fiction films like 28 Days Later..., Sunshine, and Dredd, so it makes sense that his directorial debut is working off another science-fiction story. While those other films have tended towards using their premises for entertainment and spectacle above all else, Ex Machina attempts to wring out something with a bit more depth by plumbing a subject that always proves to be an extremely reliable source of deep (or "deep") sci-fi - artificial intelligence. The premise, which revolves around a base cast of four characters all secluded in a bunker-like mansion in the middle of nowhere, is obviously going to provide some tension and does anticipate a savvy audience's predictions reasonably well. It's obvious from the second we see Oscar Isaac's chummy, alcoholic tech-genius interact with Domhnall Gleeson's gawky programmer that something is going to go very wrong before too long, even when Alicia Vikander's semi-realistic gynoid shows up and starts getting tested by Gleeson. Of course, the film manages to balance its not-especially-deep exploration of the implications of artificial intelligence with a persistently tense atmosphere that plays up the relationships between the three leads (as well as Sonoya Mizuno as Isaac's mute servant) as the true conflict.
The effects work is fairly basic and only really extends to rendering Vikander's transparent "skin" and shiny, fluorescent innards, but its relative lack of ambition means that it is accomplished reasonably well. A score co-written by Portishead's Geoff Barrow is appropriately low-key and minimalist, only veering into typically dreadful drones at the most appropriate moments. As for the performances...Isaac delivers another great one as the extremely affable designer who rolls with his character's obviously suspicious nature and provides someone a bit more complex than that as he waxes existential about the inevitability of artificial intelligence becoming a reality, while Vikander does a reasonably good job at playing an AI developing a consciousness considering how hard it is to perform such a role without overplaying or underplaying. Gleeson is something of a weak link but that's at least part of the story as his status as a neutral party is fundamental to the plot and he underplays appropriately. On that note, Ex Machina does a pretty good job of justifying its shortcomings within the context of its narrative (including the all-too-familiar problem with stories involving female robots, namely that they exist to serve as sexual/romantic interests for male humans). Indeed, Garland and co. even anticipate several of the audience's predictions and subvert them at the earliest sensible opportunity. While that's not quite as good (or difficult) as avoiding said shortcomings altogether, it really is the next best thing and makes for a good slice of sci-fi with the right mix of characterisation, thrills, navel-gazing, and technical achievement.
Alex Garland, 2015
A computer programmer is invited to a remote research facility by his tech-genius boss in order to help him test the self-awareness of an artificially intelligent gynoid.
Novelist and screenwriter Alex Garland made his name by writing screenplays for science-fiction films like 28 Days Later..., Sunshine, and Dredd, so it makes sense that his directorial debut is working off another science-fiction story. While those other films have tended towards using their premises for entertainment and spectacle above all else, Ex Machina attempts to wring out something with a bit more depth by plumbing a subject that always proves to be an extremely reliable source of deep (or "deep") sci-fi - artificial intelligence. The premise, which revolves around a base cast of four characters all secluded in a bunker-like mansion in the middle of nowhere, is obviously going to provide some tension and does anticipate a savvy audience's predictions reasonably well. It's obvious from the second we see Oscar Isaac's chummy, alcoholic tech-genius interact with Domhnall Gleeson's gawky programmer that something is going to go very wrong before too long, even when Alicia Vikander's semi-realistic gynoid shows up and starts getting tested by Gleeson. Of course, the film manages to balance its not-especially-deep exploration of the implications of artificial intelligence with a persistently tense atmosphere that plays up the relationships between the three leads (as well as Sonoya Mizuno as Isaac's mute servant) as the true conflict.
The effects work is fairly basic and only really extends to rendering Vikander's transparent "skin" and shiny, fluorescent innards, but its relative lack of ambition means that it is accomplished reasonably well. A score co-written by Portishead's Geoff Barrow is appropriately low-key and minimalist, only veering into typically dreadful drones at the most appropriate moments. As for the performances...Isaac delivers another great one as the extremely affable designer who rolls with his character's obviously suspicious nature and provides someone a bit more complex than that as he waxes existential about the inevitability of artificial intelligence becoming a reality, while Vikander does a reasonably good job at playing an AI developing a consciousness considering how hard it is to perform such a role without overplaying or underplaying. Gleeson is something of a weak link but that's at least part of the story as his status as a neutral party is fundamental to the plot and he underplays appropriately. On that note, Ex Machina does a pretty good job of justifying its shortcomings within the context of its narrative (including the all-too-familiar problem with stories involving female robots, namely that they exist to serve as sexual/romantic interests for male humans). Indeed, Garland and co. even anticipate several of the audience's predictions and subvert them at the earliest sensible opportunity. While that's not quite as good (or difficult) as avoiding said shortcomings altogether, it really is the next best thing and makes for a good slice of sci-fi with the right mix of characterisation, thrills, navel-gazing, and technical achievement.