Take that, Spielberg

Rating: 8/10 (2 August 2015)

Recently, I crossed A.I. Artificial Intelligence off my bucket list and wasn't pleased I saw it after all. I would've been better off passing before I viewed it. Mercifully, 14 years later, an A.I. film was done properly.
Throughout this film, I felt hope for real cinema, or at least a return to well-made and thoughtful productions. Beautifully shot, inside and in the outside world, Ex Machina really took me into the minds of madness, even as subtle as the film is. It's a great Twilight Zone episode, but with time to appreciate the words spoken, ideas presented and claustrophobic nature shown. I loved the main "villain," the depth and dialogue of thoughts that I thought first and they agreed with me.
One big problem with a movie like this is that it constantly tells us how smart it and the characters are, and yet, I only believe it at certain times. It's the old: Show Don't Tell theory. "The Tester," or Domhnall Gleeson's Caleb, is continuously referred to as brilliant, but aside from a bit jargon, I never bought his intelligence. Partly, that was the point, I guess, but it's hard to get past the prodigy he's supposed to be.
Nevertheless, I loved the concepts, the direction, the scope and definitely the third act. Completely recommended. Cheers!