Interesting movie and theme

Rating: 7/10 (18 September 2016)

The film, Ex Machina, is a fantasy thriller about artificial intelligence crossing over to human emotion. Nathan, played by Oscar Isaac, is the CEO of a company and a brilliant, secluded inventor. Caleb, played by Domhnall Gleeson, is an employee that won a contest to spend a week at Nathan's private estate. While at the estate, Caleb is introduced to Ava, played by Alicia Vikander, a very sophisticated robot. Caleb is presented with the opportunity to interact with the robot as part of an experiment to see if a human, mindfully knowing that they are interacting with a robot, can also believe that the robot embodies human emotions and characteristics. The theme of the movie is a reflection about what emotions or characteristics are essential for being a human. A robot and a person may both be intelligent. However, can both feel compassion, empathy, fear or remorse? If a robot can learn the cues and respond to a human with an appropriate emotion, is the robot then as human as a person? Ava relates to Caleb. She is curious about him. She shows an attraction for him. She also shows fear for her future, her fate, should the experiment fail. She seems to share secrets or insights with Caleb during the power outages, such as 'don't trust Nathan, he is not your friend'. (Bush, 2015) These feelings she shares with Caleb seem to convince him that she is more human than robot. Ex Machina is similar in theme to I, Robot. They both develop the plot with a robot that has human characteristics. The robots in both movies take on such convincing human emotions that the characters begin to relate to the robots as though they are humans. There was a scene early in the movie. Caleb was walking through Nathan's house. He entered a room and the camera was focused on his face as he was confused and wondering about something he was looking at. The camera then focused on a large crack in the glass. The rack focus that the cinematographer was foreshadowing, since later in the movie it was revealed how the glass came to be broken. The use of computer generated imaging was key to creating Ava. Although an actress played the part of Ava, there were obviously parts of her body that were computer animations so that she fit the character of being a robot on-screen. The use of the special visual effects lent credibility to the movie. This movie can entertain some conversations about what emotions and feelings are common in humans, and if there is ever going to be a future that would include robots with those same emotions and feelings.