Ex Machina review

Ex Machina is a Sci-Fi thriller written and directed by Alex Garland. The three main characters are played by Alicia Vikander (Ava), Domhnall Gleeson (Caleb Smith) and Oscar Isaac (Nathan Batemen). The film had a small budget of $15 million but performed very well commercially, generating a revenue of $36.9 million.

The plot follows a young programmer called Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) as he is invited to the home of the owner of the search company he works for after winning a competition. The owner, Nathan Batemen (Oscar Isaac) reveals to Caleb upon his arrival that he is building an artificially intelligent robot which is named Ava and wants Caleb to take part in a Turing test on it. The film then takes the audience on a thrilling journey of intense mind games and ethical challenges which finish with an unpredictably shocking ending.

Ex Machina won an academy award for best visual effects and i can see why when viewing it. The film was shot like ordinary live action. There were no special effects, greenscreen, or tracking markers used during filming. All effects were done in post-production. To create Ava's robotic features, they filmed the scenes both with and without actress Alicia Vikander's presence, which allowed them to capture the background behind her. The parts they wanted to keep, especially her hands and face, were then rotoscoped while the rest was digitally painted out and the background behind her restored. Camera and body tracking systems transferred Vikander's performance to the CGI robot's movements. In total, there were about 800 VFX shots, of which 350 or so were robot shots. Other visual effects were Ava's clothes seen through the transparent areas of her body, Nathan's blood after being stabbed and the interior of the artificial brains. All of these effects were done brilliantly with great techniques as they fit in perfectly with the overall picture and didn't draw attention away from the plot.

An ethical issue i can establish when watching Ex Machina is that all of the nudity in the film is female based. This is the case for most films which paints a very sexist picture of the industry.

Overall i enjoyed the film. It was based on an interesting subject and challenged the mind on an intellectual, ethical and moral level. The ending was also unorthodox and allowed for imaginative thinking as to what happened next.

Jack Astill