Sci-fi? Or right around the corner?

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2015)

At last, a sci-fi movie that combines brains, suspense, a captivating android, and a 3-player poker game where the first player knows what the second one is going to do but isn't sure about the third one. No blow-'em-ups effects needed here. In fact the most stunning special effect is Ava's quasi-robotic, and erotic, android body and Alicia Vikander plays her to perfection.
Nathan (Oscar Isaac) is an eccentric recluse who has founded the largest and best online search engine company in the world, BlueBook (named after the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein's lecture notes from 1933-34―the other being the Brown Book which addressed 1934-35). A software genius, Nathan wrote the entire code needed to start BlueBook from scratch at the age of 13 and it has made him a multibillionaire enabling him to live where he wants to live, how he wants to live, and why he wants to live. The why is embodied in his relentless pursuit. Having founded an outstanding software-based company, he now avidly pursues his passion for strong AI.
From his lair (in what I took to be Alaska*) Nathan sets up a computer contest among his employees, ostensibly to discover who is the best programmer. Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins the contest and is flown in by private helicopter to Nathan's estate in the midst of a rugged and incredibly beautiful wilderness landscape to meet Nathan. A significant honor for Caleb. Except that he doesn't know at this time he won the contest because he was wired to win.
Nathan's mansion functions also as his entirely private research facility, and he is determined to take strong AI all the way to its predestined epiphany: the creation of a fully functional android that can pass as human in any and all circumstances whatever. Ava is his hottest latest creation. A walking, talking, android robot who except for some of her obvious robotic features resembles a fully functional human female, and an eye-catcher at that. There's a previous creation around too, Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno). She's Nathan's slave and treated as such.
Caleb has a week at Nathan's estate to test Ava to see if she can pass the Turing Test, the sterling litmus test that differentiates a computer from a human being. If the computer passes, it is considered to possess a fully functioning mind capable of decision making and independent thought, a self-conscious awareness of who she is, and along with these her will to survive and her capacity to take pleasure in sexual experiences. For the latter Nathan has furnished her with an artificial vagina with sensors that register pleasure when stimulated. Much of this is part of Kyoko's repertoire too and although she's mute, she's not as dumb as she seems. She does good sex too. And with her master and creator. Some viewers may find this creepy.
Caleb is the epitome of the geek. A shy, very bright, introverted young man orphaned at 15 with no brothers or sisters, and no girl friend either. He is all alone in the world. In short, fully open and vulnerable to Ava's charms. Nathan of course knew all this beforehand. He even knows Ava's face fits Caleb's pornography profile of most frequently viewed females. When asked about this, Nathan points out the many advantages of easy access to mine different individual's data through BlueBook. For all these reasons Caleb was the perfect fit. And unknown to him, Nathan has his own version of the Turing Test: Caleb is the front-guy whose strings are being pulled by Nathan―and also by Ava. Ava is a prisoner in Nathan's mountain retreat and has never been allowed out of her room. She longs for freedom. And she also fears that Nathan may decide to "retire" her and commence on a newer model. Caleb falls in love with her and they plot to escape together.
Nathan even warns Caleb. Does she truly love you? Or does she only seem to love you to gain her freedom? Caleb believes the first. A disastrous mistake. Things get dicey. Nathan is murdered. Caleb ends up trapped in Nathan's mansion because the entire power system that controls the locks has been jimmied. He can't escape. He begs Ava to release him. She gives him a wistful glance and then walks out into the open to keep the rendezvous with the waiting helicopter to whisk her away to the freedom she so desperately desires and to free her from her incessant fear of being terminated. And at this point she looks like a fully embodied human being, thanks to some convenient borrowings from some of Nathan's earlier creations.
The last scene we see her in a vast square where she stands very pleased with herself, glancing at human beings walking by and treating her like "anyone" else. She has passed the Turing Test with flying colors. A being fully cognizant of her powers and fully capable of feigning love and of treacherous deceit. A true human being. Or is she?
As an aside, strong AI opens both many ethical (a religious person would say, moral) issues and technological issues. Can a creature made from synthetic electronic circuits and programmed like any other computer fully function as a human being? Would such a creature be able to reproduce? Which is one of the most salient features of all life on Earth. And just because we can do something, should we do it? And how would such a creature be energized? Great strides have been made in battery technology. But a battery that only requires to be charged once a century is still far off. And the use of any battery system would still have to depend on a reliable source of electricity, such as the Grid.
I hope Alex Garland will continue directing sci-fi movies. With Ex Machina he's created a high bar for himself.
I give it 10 out of 10.
* Norway actually.