Tense little thriller, well chosen cast.

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2017)

When Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) and Nathan (Oscar Isaac) meet each other for the first time the atmosphere is uncomfortable at best and disturbing at worst. The actors and script manage to keep this going throughout the film, making for a tense and awkward feeling throughout.
I haven't seen any of the actors in any other films so I was impressed by them all. Oscar Isaac flips from friendly, to cruel, to intimidating, to downright scary, to manic very easily. Domhnall Gleeson has obviously picked up his father's flair for acting. His Caleb is scared, nervous and excited all at the same time and his ultimate innocence, misinterpretation and betrayal is sad to watch.
Ava (Alicia Vikander) moves beautifully as the android, almost like a ballet dancer. Her childlike innocence is endearing but still surprisingly spooky and disturbing. Also, the special effects are exquisite: from top to bottom she looks every bit the android.
The script is well written but the parts about A.I. mainly repeat the old and often used clichés, which is disappointing. I recently saw Blade Runner 2049 where they chose not to go through lengthy monologues on A.I. and I thought this was a good decision.
The scene where she asks him "how do I look?" (when she is wearing the dress and then he watches her take it off) reminded me much of The Graduate and I was almost disappointed when he didn't reply "very good".
The soundtrack is really interesting. It is often not present at all, which is a great choice and adds to the film's eerie suspense. When it does play it is well used.
About two thirds of the way through I started to get disappointed as I had guessed all the small twists and turns from really early on. However, I didn't see the multi-twist at the end coming. Nathan is wrong when he says that the main aim in life is to reproduce, the main aim in life here is to survive.