Artificial Intelligence in slow motion

Rating: 8/10 (16 May 2015)

The movie is all about defining Artificial Intelligence. It starts with a computer nerd brought down to the isolated mansion of the owner of a Google like company to test if a robot exhibits true intelligence and self awareness. But what does that really mean? Ex Machina explores exactly this question.
While the acting and direction was top notch, I have to warn you that this film is slow as hell. I don't mean that in a "oh, there are no action scenes" way. I mean it is really, artistically, excruciatingly, Solaris-like slow. The film lasts for "just" 100 minutes, but it feels like it's a three hour movie.
The exploration of the AI subject is interesting, realistic and ironic, in a certain way. If you think about it, all of the actions and motivations of the actors are hard to judge until the very end, when you realize there is really no bad guy and everything just went in a perfectly logical and predictable manner, given all information. You get that information at the end, which makes it worthwhile to have lasted through the entire play-like, four actors film.
Bottom line: this is a movie that must be seen, must be endured, because it asks the correct questions and reveals the logical answers. However, the slow pace and the limited interaction between the four actors (one of them is a mute girl) makes it hard to enjoy it on an emotional level.