An intelligent look at artificial intelligence

Rating: Null/10 (25 January 2015)

The female robot has a long cinematic history, stretching from "Metropois" (1927), through "The Stepford Wives" (1975 & 2004) to "Blade Runner" (1982). What has changed is the advance of artificial intelligence technology, which has made it harder and harder to distinguish the metallic from the human, and our sense of ethics, which has led us to query how we should treat such increasingly sensitive creations. For some scientists, the vision is what is called the singularity when AI will exceed human intellectual capacity and control.
"Ex Machina" is a slow, stylish and intelligent sci-fi erotic thriller, both written and directed by the British Alex Garland, that poses some challenging questions about AI including a reference to the singularity. It is so lean in location and characters that it could almost have been a play, except that the robot is represented through some effective special effects.
Virtually all the action takes place in an ultra-modernist home-cum-laboratory built largely underground, while essentially there are only three players in this techno game: Nathan, the owner of the facility, the rich and reclusive owner of the Bluebook search engine and creator of the robot Eva (a clever, passive-aggressive portrayal by Oscar Isaac); Caleb, a staff member of the company apparently chosen to test whether Eva is truly self-aware (a diffident and increasingly credulous Domhnall Glesson), and Eva herself (the Swedish Alicia Vikander in a mesmerising performance which for most of the time sees only her face located in an exo-skeleton). Inevitably there is a twist in the tale which could be seen as a vindication or a warning.
Note: What does the title "Ex Machina" mean? It is an abbreviated version of the term 'deus ex machina' which literally means 'a god from a machine' and originated from the conventions of Greek tragedy where a machine is used to bring actors playing gods onto the stage. In the context of this film, you can read it two ways: either Nathan is a god who has created what is essentially just a very clever machine or perhaps the 'machine' is the cruel Nathan who has created the ultimately all-powerful 'god' Eva.