Garland's vision is such that he has created something special, fresh and unique.

Rating: 10/10 (20 June 2015)

I've now seen Ex Machina three times and you should all have seen it precisely once. I now have the ability to do a spoilers review, which will replace my hastily written at Hong Kong airport review.
This movie is such a spectacular experience. It has only a four-person cast, three of whom have lines, but all of whom completely exceed hopes. Domnhall Gleeson gets the least showy but most important part - the lonely kid who is intimidated by his boss and falls so easily for this AI. His faltering smile makes him look genuinely shaken when either Ava or Nathan drop a bombshell on him. He is the conduit for the film, the only character we are able to fully understand going in, and he does it so well.
Oscar Isaac gives my favourite supporting performance of last year as Nathan. Modelled on Stanley Kubrick (and you can tell with cute little homages like "I'm afraid I can't do that"), Nathan is simultaneously very warm and completely detached, very reasonable and quite intimidating, a mad scientist harbouring a God complex. They key to Nathan is that he is completely unreadable. A lesser actor in this role would have ruined the entire film.
Alicia Vikander may have won the Oscar for The Danish Girl, but as far as I'm concerned, this is the film she won for. If Isaac's performance was critical to the movie being good, Vikander's was critical to the movie being watchable. She moves slowly and cautiously, somehow able to relax her facial muscles so much that her face doesn't even look like a human face, it looks like a replica of a human face. Ava's manipulation of Caleb works purely because of Vikander's performance. She dresses herself up as a little girl in need of protection, holding her sweater sleeve cuffs shyly and holding her torn picture with quiet distress. When she breaks free, she is about as terrifying as the Terminator, with her long graceful running strides and her emotionless face as she leaves Caleb to die. Her sweet laugh as she reaches the outside world is almost enough to make you forget the dangerous and terrifying things she has just done.
Alex Garland's direction of the film is spectacular, with perfect panning shots and slow stationary camera with minimal distraction. Ava's choice of clothes - her own choices contrasted with what she knows will seduce Caleb - are vital. The incredibly entertaining dance scene in the middle of the film is not only fun, but it lowers your guard completely for what is soon to follow. The minimal use of colour and sound makes their occasional appearances harsher and almost more frightening. The film is edited to perfection, not a single frame wasted, with long scenes of discovery there for us to appreciate just as we recover from shocks that may have just taken place. The film's score - the eerily beautiful four note melody and the thundering helicopter-esque crescendo - both do much to spike the tension or drama of the scenes in which they are used.
The benefits of having the writer direct is that Garland understands how important the words of the film are and so the direction is all about serving those words. Impeccable dialogue exists all throughout the film, whether philosophical discussions or character development or just the super reasonable explanations that Nathan keeps coming up with. The shocking reveals, one right after the other, are enough to have you holding your breath in shock, saying "did that just happen?" We're talking about Usual Suspects level of duplicity.
The Visual Effects team (with obvious support from makeup, production design and costumes) are the real winners of this film. The fact that they won an Oscar over Star Wars and three Best Picture nominees is the ultimate triumph of the little guy. Rewatching this film has given me an even greater appreciation for its beauty. You don't think about how difficult it would be to create Ava's see-through body and yet not impose of the background of the shot. In one scene, Ava detaches her arm. We don't even think about how they might have done that. Its all such subtle and beautiful work, and on such a small budget the filmmakers should really be commended.
Then again, they all should be for making this film full stop.