A great sci-fi drama that's more about us than AI

Rating: 8/10 (20 May 2015)

Ex Machina, of course derived from the term Deus Ex Machina, is one in a long line of sci-fi stories seeking to explore the 'nature' of artificial intelligence. More specifically, it's interested in our behavior towards it, our fascination with it and so on.
The oh-so symbolically named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a young coder, working at pretty much the largest internet company in the world. One day, he receives a message saying he's won a prize: he'll get to spend a week with the CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac) in his mountain villa. Once there, he meets the muscle-bound mystic, sporting a shaved head and smashing beard, and finds out he's there to conduct a Turing Test. Nathan has built an advanced AI, the oh-so subtly named AVA and wants Caleb to judge how advanced the AI is. Thus begins a series of talks between Caleb and AVA, overseen with cameras by Nathan...
After the disaster that was Chappie and its pitiful attempts at dealing with issues of AI and so on, it's refreshing to see a film that knows what it wants to be. All the usual questions of AI are dealt with, including the obvious one: why? Why do we have this obsession with creating a self-aware 'being' in our likeness? In one scene, Nathan sees it as the next logical step in an evolutionary sense; AI was a long time coming. In his eyes, AVA is merely a version number, only relevant until a 'better' model comes along, just like human beings. He of course skillfully avoids the question of whether humans are actually improving on a generational basis. The wonderful thing about these explanations of his is that they sound logical on the one hand, but on the other they also reveal his inhumanity, his inability or unwillingness to consider the human component of what he's doing.
The only thing that feels forced in Ex Machina is the biblical symbolism: the primeval, Garden of Eden-esque environments surrounding Nathan's mountain retreat, Caleb comparing Nathan to a God, the name Caleb and so on. Comparing AI designers to God isn't exactly a new thing, people. Speaking of forced, the filmmakers also couldn't resist including countless mirror shots to 'reflect' as it were the dual nature of man, man's relation to AI, AI's 'desire' to be human and so on. So we get these shots where there's two Calebs, etc., shots that are so obviously symbolic you can practically hear the filmmakers shout 'see what we did there?' Why this overabundance of mirror shots? It's gotten so bad that the only thing I feel they 'reflect' is a lack of cinematographic innovation.
Thankfully, the film doesn't shy away from the topic of sex. The two seasons of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex are the only other works of fiction I've seen that also deal with this topic, but I'm sure there are many others. But anyway: sex. If you have the ability and know-how to create a 'being' resembling your own form, it's not long before sex becomes a possible and very attractive option: after all, as Nathan put it when answering Caleb, why not? In a time where humanesque robots are becoming more and more present, it's good to see films like Ex Machina explore the obvious sexual aspects of our desire for AI. I also like that Nathan has AVA on the one hand and something of a serving girl on the other, an AI named Kyoko. She not only serves meals and so on, but also 'serves' Nathan (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) and more importantly, she's mute. What this implies is that Nathan, in his quest for fully artificial intelligence, also wanted a sexbot, but one conveniently without any other cognitive functions or desires or the capacity to (verbally) disobey him. She's bound by the limits he's enforced on her (though there's an interesting plot twist...). What's really interesting is that fully functioning AI, aka perfecting AVA or any future form of her, is in the end still his real desire. Kyoko was more of a curiosity that had to be satisfied along the way. Sex isn't the end goal in AI development, but it sure is a convenient stop along the way... No, a completely 'human' AI is his real end goal, though this also means the AI could deceive you and break through the boundaries you've set for it and rise up in rebellion...
The characterization is great as well, particularly Nathan's. Consider the fact that, upon first meeting Caleb he pleads with him to immediately become friends. Presumably this is to avoid the typical boss-employee relationship. As the story progresses, we get a better grasp on Nathan. We realize this is a man who's spent the better part of his life designing and coding. Human concepts like friendship, conversations, love and so on aren't so much complex facets of humans, but things that he's programmed time and again. His initial desire to immediately become friends then isn't so much an act of friendship, but a sign his social skills have slowly withered over the years.
There's a lot to like in Ex Machina. Despite a runtime of almost two hours and almost no action scenes, the film is never anything less than engaging, even during those times when the story feels less like a naturally evolving drama and more like a crash course in AI vs Humanity. And despite the Biblical symbolism being laid on a bit too thick, you're constantly kept on edge, not just regarding Nathan's true intentions and his strange relationship with Caleb, but with questions of our fascination with AI and how our creations and boundless technological advancements can have unforeseen and damaging consequences for us.