Clever premise and fine cinematography

Rating: 4/10 (14 November 2015)

Clever premise and fine cinematography are a good starting point. And if the movie doesn't reach beyond to create a compelling storyline, this automatically results in a whole lot of self-indulgence. It is the pitfall of many a young director who has earned some accolades for early efforts. Few are those who can see beyond the warm sycophantic hum-buzz and look at themselves in the mirror to see how much hard work they still can hammer in their careers.
Ex Machina is clearly an interesting premise, a very clever one for a low-budget independent production. The location and cinematography are great too. On top of this you have one hell of a gigantic flaw any aspiring screenwriter is bound to know: the main character is both weak AND passive. Since the movie is already designed as a very linear story cut up in 6-7 days of "work" (that is, a repetitive endeavour even if something gradually builds up), this does run against the amount of suspense and thrills the viewer is experiencing.
So if you scratch below the surface of all the clever talk about AI there only remains a weak movie that actually feels like a brilliant short movie blown up to feature length.