Alex Garland debuts with one of the best sci-fi films of the last decade

Rating: 9/10 (25 February 2016)

"EX MACHINA" isn't only of the best thrillers of 2015, it's also one of the most engaging and cerebral sci-fi films of the last decade.
The plot starts with Caleb: a young coder who wins a competition to study in the secluded research facility of Nathan - one of the world's greatest computer geniuses and CEO of the company Caleb works for. There, Caleb must analyze and determine if the Artificial Intelligence that Nathan has created (played by Alicia Vikander) truly has a conscience.
Contrary to most sci-fi films of this age, "Ex Machina" doesn't rely on big set pieces and explosions to get our attention. It does it subtly. Alex Garland had already proved himself to be a great screenwriter and, while the film as a whole is great, it's the script that truly makes the movie shine. Garland takes the sci-fi setting to question what "Blade Runner" asked us in 1982: "What does being human really mean?"; "At what point does something artificial become human?"; and so on Garland structures these questions and their delivery in a way that never feels heavy handed; the dialogs flow naturally and you never feel like you are listening to two computer geeks coldly talk about technical gibberish.
That is also thanks to the acting, which is great all around. Oscar Isaac continues to establish himself as one of the best leading men in films, however it was Alicia Vikander that really surprised me: she was able to find the thin line between man and machine and play with it, making you doubt what is really happening underneath.
I started by saying "EX MACHINA" is an excellent and intense thriller, but it's also one of the most stylized. While I am not particularly fond of the whole digital aesthetic, seeing as "EX MACHINA" is a film that is so intrinsically tied to that subject, I cannot help but feel that it serves its purpose.
Overall, my experience in the cinema was terrific. This is the type of low key cerebral sci-fi that I most enjoy and of the best since Duncan Jones' "Moon". With "EX MACHINA" Garland proves he is not only a writer to look forward to but a director as well.