Ex Machina is Ex-traordinary!

Rating: 10/10 (22 May 2016)

*****THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS!*****
After it was announced that Alicia Vikander would be playing Lara Croft in the new Tomb Raider movie (based on the 2013 video game), I figured I should watch one of her movies. I really have no desire to watch The Danish Girl, but I always wanted to see Ex Machina; just never got around to it.
*Also, I LOVE Alex Garland's movie Dredd so I had a good feeling about Ex Machina.*
Ex Machina is about a programmer (named Caleb) who is given the opportunity to work with his boss (Nathan) for a week on a secret project (in a secret compound). Turns out he has successfully created an AI (Artificial Intelligence) (named Ava) that is 100% human-like.
Originally, Caleb was just supposed to interact with Ava and "pick her brain" so to speak. As the story progresses though, Caleb falls for Ava (yes, a human falls for an AI; GET OVER IT!); and she appears to fall for him too, but is her love real?
The movie has a very "M. Night Shyamalan-esque" ending with a very surprising turn of events at the end. (Honestly, I didn't see it coming!) I believe the point of the movie (and the ending) was to show that maybe someday we will create AI that is SO realistic (if our government hasn't already), that it will gain TRUE human qualities; whether good OR bad.
FINAL VERDICT: This movie blew me away! I'm used to sci-fi movies being interesting AND action-packed, and even though Ex Machina only had one "action" scene, it was so interesting and did such an amazing job at sucking me in, that I didn't mind that there wasn't any action. Alex Garland is such a good writer and director and I can't wait for his new movie Annihilation! If it's as good as Dredd and half as good as Ex Machina, it should be pretty amazing!