Ex Machina is that Stanley Kubrick-like robot thriller I wanted with Artificial Intelligence

Rating: 10/10 (30 April 2015)

The first robots I saw in person were at Disneyland in the form of the famous audio animatronics that you see as pirates, ghosts, or whatever the park wants them to play in their attractions. As a little boy, I actually thought that pirates were really pillaging and that ghosts were haunting a mansion. Once I learned more about how the world works, the curtain opened and exposed how the trick worked. From that point on, I knew that the magic that was once there had moved. I appreciate the park more for what it is rather then what it has, but it still pleases a lot of children into thinking their about to go into a world of characters. This was probably my first example of a Turing test.
The purpose of a Turing test is to determine whether a human cannot identify that what it is their communicating with is a machine. Artificial intelligence seems to be getting closer and it probably wont be long before we see several people being deceived into marriage thinking that their bride is a human, without knowing what's really inside of her. Ex-Machina takes it's own Turning test, but with a different idea.
Young programmer Caleb Smith works for Blue Book, witch is like the Google of this cinematic world. He's lucky enough to win a company sweepstakes that will take him to meet his boss. He flies to the mountains where he enters the home of Nathan Bateman (played by Oscar Isaac). The house itself is built underground and has the look of a concrete hotel. Nathan at first does not fit the role of a recluse, who seems friendly with Caleb, simply wanting to talk about life rather then work. That all changes when Nathan offers to show Celeb his latest work.
After signing a non-discloser agreement, Celeb finds that he'll be the guinea pig to an artificial intelligent robot to pass the Turing test. Nathan decides that Celeb needs to see the machinery inside the robot, as to prove that if the programmer can have an emotional and physical response, then the test is truly successful. Celeb waits in another room where a robot with a human face walks in. She introduces herself as Ava (played by Alicia Vikander) and while she is shy, she does show signs of a personality and even comments on the English language. Celeb goes through a whole week of tests with this girl and whether she truly is a created human being.
In 2001, A.I. Artificial Intelligence was a widely marketed movie about the same philosophies that Ex Machina is trying to get across. The big difference here is that Ex Machina not only feels more intelligent on how it presents it's robots, but it even feels more like the Stanley Kubrick movie that Spielberg was trying to mimic. The slow pacing and creepy tone (trust me, it becomes unnerving in a good way) seemed to call back to The Shining and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
First time director Alex Garland (screenwriter of 28 Weeks Later and Dredd) presents himself as a wise beyond his years master that makes it hard to believe that Ex Machina is his introduction work. The casting feels perfect, considering that this is basically a three- person story. They all fit the triangle of symmetrical acting that made me forget I was watching a movie. The story is perfect as not only is the setup right for an artificial intelligence story, but we receive interesting examinations on each motivation with the characters. I love stories that keep me off guard with what's going to happen.
I'll give this ten Ava robots out of ten. The eyes of the machines here gave me the same fear that I felt when the HAL 9000 tried to kill the astronauts of 2001. Given what these things can do, perhaps I might be better off just enjoying the pirates at Disneyland rather then waiting for a machine to confuse me.