An intelligent movie about A.I., nothing less.

Rating: 9/10 (19 June 2015)

Of the dozen plus movies on or about artificial intelligence and the likes, the latest I've recently seen is one which compelled me to write about it.
From 1968's '2001 A Space Odyssey', 1991's 'Terminator 2: Judgement Day', 1999's 'The Matrix', not leaving out 2008's 'Wall-E' and 'Eagle Eye', then 2010 'Inception' which are my preferred a.i. movies of the over dozen I've seen and last year's 'Transcendence' which did not fare that well at the box office nor with audience and critics but which plot by writer Jack Paglen I did relish, follows this year's 'Ex Machina'.
Like all good movies it is original and breaks new ground and that's the observation that compelled me to write another review. The basic premise being: A young programmer, Caleb, is selected to participate in a breakthrough week long experiment in artificial intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I. and that's what the audience gets for maybe half the movie. Then the plot thickens.
Before I go further it is well worth mentioning that the location is in the wilds of Alaska, but filming took place in Norway's Valldal valley. In the early opening sequences a glacier provides a stunning intro and the home of Nathan, a main character, it begs you to imagine what comes next. The spectacular landscape adds a dimension of power to Nathan and it was, from what I found, intentional. You know from that point the production was not going to be anything less than high calibre and the rest of the movie bears this out.
There are three main characters, Nathan, Caleb and Ava, the latter being the stunning A.I being evaluated. The deliberate slow pace of the movie allows us to study each one while the suspense builds.
Nathan is the genius owner of the worlds dominant (by far) search engines and he has built the most human like A.I. yet. Oscar Isaac, principally known for his outstanding performance in 'Inside Liewyn Davis' is featured in the role of Nathan. Again Isaac displays his talent playing yet another character different from all previous ones. Perhaps some similarity would be in the character's unlikable personality, but that's as far as it goes.
Very little is as it seems; the mark of a good story is that it is unpredictable and most reviewers agree on that point where Ex Machina is concerned. Who is evaluating whom and for what purpose? Therein lies the source of the suspense; that and how each character outsmarts the other, which is to say the writer outsmarts the audience but still manages to leave it with a finale one viewer is bound to see differently than another. I enjoy those kind of scripts, the kind that get you involved and deliver a punch at the end, one you've earned but didn't guess.
The roles of Caleb and Ava, respectively played by Domhnall Gleeson and Alicia Vikander are seriously well cast. Their performances are so convincing I'm looking up their prior roles to select for viewing the films in which they played.
I can't usually figure how, not that I try hard, films are rated PG or R or such, but this is not what I'd call a family movie.
The special effects are wonderfully well done and should leave no one wanting, without being overdone. The reviews I've read and the scores from three most searched movie sites all are showing signs of this being a 'to see' movie. Writer Alex Garland also directed the movie, his first, and one could hardly ask for a better debut in my humble opinion.