Certinaly better than average Hollywood flick, but not a classic

Rating: 7/10 (3 May 2015)

The theme of Ex Machina has been covered many times before: Blade Runner, Demon Seed, AI, I Robot, Westworld... Essentially it is a story about creating a computer/robot which will have self-consciousness like a human.
The main character in Ex Machina gets to interact with one such creation and is trying to evaluate it. It is what unfolds from this point that makes this film interesting.
While watching the film I loved that there were a few moments of brilliance - moments where things made perfect sense. However, there were also many moments which made no sense. Even then, the film was watchable, even enjoyable. The plot-holes or lack of logic were not as bad as in Interstellar for instance, but they were there.
While I enjoyed the relationships that were well portrayed in this film, I found the ending a bit lacking. Just as the film has many layers to it, which we get to discover, the ending should have had the same quality to it - but it does not. In the end, what you see is what you get.
If the ending were as complex as the rest of the film, I would give it 8 maybe even 9 stars; but as it is it gets 7 stars.
All in all, this film deserves praise for being daring, and not trying to cater to the lowest common denominator. Although the vernacular suggests that target audience is primarily geeks and techies, the film is very watchable and enjoyable. Unlike most of what passes for film these days, Ex Machina is not an insult to intelligence. However, it could have been a lot more than that - we could have been discussing how it surpassed all those films I mentioned earlier, but it has not; not even close.