A brilliant, thoughtful sci-fi movie

Rating: 9/10 (15 April 2018)

I love the goals Ex Machina has as a specifically focused AI movie that delves deeply into the 3/4 characters involved, and also love the execution. The peripherals were excellent - particularly, the effects and cinematography were gorgeous, and the actual science behind the AI was completely realistic and carefully discussed. The acting was great, and the script was phenomenal. Like most great movies, Ex Machina is effective in demonstrating a holistic view of the characters and considering various aspects of life while honing in on a couple key themes (manipulation and freedom) to great effect. I thought the climax was a bit traditional and unrealistic in Isaac's character being extremely intelligent but not checking or having checked and solved Gleeson's stated plan, and then was clearly a bad idea to go to Ava and assume she'd follow his direction. The ending in demonstrating that Ava was using Caleb purely as a means to an end. Caleb's character was extremely well developed in showing his view of himself as a good, caring person who is better than Isaac but who realistically was rather self-serving and ambiguous. Overall, it raises fascinating questions of the significance of AI and their rights and interaction with humans, and uses the well-developed characters to further many themes.