It Might Sound Familiar and Yet Get Ready to Be Pleasantly Surprised

Rating: 10/10 (26 April 2015)

Everyone knows what happens when man plays God? Apparently, we haven't learned our lesson from watching this happen over and over, and sometimes the problem appears to be solved. Mostly, it is disaster. "Ex- Machina" presents a new twist on an old story.
A scientist and a young man get involved in an experiment to see when machines are able to gain consciousness and are able to learn, feel, and a variety of feelings which might not be the best humanity can offer. At first, it's perfectly obvious who is in control, and it's a terrifying portrayal by Isaac, who looking both intense physically and psychologically seems to be able to manipulate technology, emotions, in every way necessary. We go in with the idea that nothing will escape this man, and that the experiment will have a tragic ending for everyone around him.
Soon we get to meet AVA and she's a fascinating piece of work, cold and detached at first, an amazing technological computer with enough latex to show her gender but enough displayed to remind you of her origins. Little by little, she appears to be programmed to lead the young scientist into a very confusing psychological trip. He is being manipulated by both the creator and his creation, or is it by him only? Isaac always is in control, even when he is drunk. He has designed the environment, set the rules, and he's after all a genius.
Matters become complicated when the three characters begin to do peculiar things. The race is on, and it is difficult to gauge who has the lead. By the time we get to the end of the story, everything is even more confusing, until the last ten minutes when we realize that manipulation was at the heart of the situation, and that most everything is explained, but we still wonder.
So God creates beings in his own image and then makes sure than he retains the upper hand. We have seen this theme in recent movies like "Prometheus" when an entire race is deemed unworthy of survival, and the travelers need to eliminate every trace of them. There are enough pieces of the puzzle around in "Ex-Machina" to give us clues, but the mystery and the philosophy are two sides of the same coin, and as I said before, it could go either way.
"Ex-Machine" explores what being human is. What separates us from other beings. Who made us? Did we evolve on our own? Is there such as a thing as evolution? Mechanical or otherwise? What is the future of technology? "Star Trek" has explored this issue before, and characters such as Data make you wonder. In this film something magical is achieved as we are given a drama full of emotional twists, where we see machines behaving like humans, and humans turning into machines, or is it what we just saw or heard?
***** out of *****.