Unique and amazing...

Rating: 10/10 (19 May 2015)

Good science fiction doesn't have to mean only giant explosions and laser guns and things. Sure, there's a place for that kind of spectacle, but a lot of the best sci-fi actually has to do with concepts, ideas, and humanity at large. Weird, I know. One writer who's always dealt with that, and mixed in the fantastic visuals when necessary, is Alex Garland, the writer of such films as 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go, and Dredd. His first foray into direction is Ex Machina, which he also wrote, a film in which a billionaire scientist named Nathan (Oscar Isaac) creates a highly advanced Artificial Intelligence named Ava (Alicia Vikander) and tasks a programmer named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) with determining whether or not she can pass as human, even if she looks highly synthetic.