REVIEW: Ex Machina

Courtesy of A24

My original plan was to review Avengers: Age of Ultron this week, but I wasn’t able to make the press screening due to location and scheduling issues. It all worked out, though. Because I was forced to scramble for a replacement review, I ended up seeing the best movie of the year so far. It’s a truly amazing work of science fiction packed with intriguing ideas and stellar performances.

Ex Machina marks Alex Garland’s directorial debut, and boy is it a memorable one. The novelist and screenwriter creates a world full of miraculous technological advancements that somehow feels both impossible and a few days away from being real, while the story serves as a chilling springboard into some vital philosophical questions.

Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a programmer for a Google-like corporation, is shocked to learn he’s the winner of a competition to spend a week with brilliant, reclusive CEO Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac). After arriving at Bateman’s secret mountain retreat, so off-grid that it’s only accessible by helicopter, Caleb’s mysterious boss gives him a choice.

They can either spend the week hanging out and making lots of awkward chit-chat, or he can sign the mother of all nondisclosure agreements and take part in the opportunity of a lifetime. Upon choosing the second option, Caleb discovers he’s meant to be the human component in a test to evaluate Nathan’s latest experiment in artificial intelligence.

That’s when Caleb meets Ava (Alicia Vikander), a stunning robot whose emotions and intelligence almost immediately pass for human. He’s supposed to assess her responses so Nathan can make her even more realistic, but the situation evolves in a way neither of them anticipated.

That intentionally vague summary is all you should know about Ex Machina. If the film sounds up your alley, avoid trailers or other reviews that might be more forthcoming with plot details. There’s not really some Shyamalan-style twist to spoil, but the story’s power lies in getting to know the characters and anticipating how they’ll respond to certain situations.

Garland manages to take a premise that’s been done a million times and approach it from a unique angle, mostly by demonstrating that the best sci-fi filters its ideas through compelling characters. That’s why some of the genre’s most seminal works (like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner) often come across as clinical exercises in philosophy – they may have mind-blowing ideas, but they forget that the people living through these experiences should be as interesting as the concepts themselves.

Plus, it takes the right actors to transform those characters from theoretical figures on a page to people the audience can invest in. That’s where Garland hit the jackpot. I’ve been a fan of Oscar Isaac since 2011, when he delivered two vastly different but equally intriguing performances. He was electric as an evil asylum worker in the wretched Sucker Punch – by far the best element of that movie. Then, later that year, he dialed it down and turned in quiet, moving work as a pop star attending his high school reunion in the underrated 10 Years.

In Ex Machina, (much like in the Coen brothers’ brilliant Inside Llewyn Davis) viewers get to see Isaac play both sides of that coin; he’s both friendly and menacing, funny and chilling. Sometimes it happens in the same scene, as when Nathan catches Caleb in a compromising position and you think he’s about to respond with violence. Instead, his reaction ends up being the funniest, most surprising part of the whole movie. It’s some of his finest work in a young career full of it.

Isaac also has fascinating chemistry with his co-star Gleeson (who he’ll team up with again in December’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens). Their interactions, loaded with double meanings and hidden agendas, are tension-filled brilliance. There’s nothing better than watching two clever minds test each other for weaknesses.

Another performer might’ve gotten steamrolled by Isaac’s intensity, but Gleeson gives as good as he gets. The timidity he exhibits at first quickly gives way to a range of other emotions, and the actor (who was also terrific in the criminally underseen About Time) makes them all understandable given the situation.

But perhaps the most complex performance comes from Swedish actress Vikander as Ava. I want to spend another 500 words discussing exactly why she’s so great to watch, but it’s better to just watch the reasons unfold in front of you. Her work seems simplistic at first, but that’s a purposeful choice for her character. As the story plays out, you realize Ava has an agenda just like the male characters in the movie – and she uses their opposing, yet equally shallow views of women (one character sees them as property, the other views them as damsels to be rescued) to achieve it.

The filmmaker, with assistance from cinematographer Rob Hardy, ensures the proceedings are visually stunning. Nathan’s bunker-style home simultaneously feels like a prison and the coolest Apple Store you’ve ever seen. In practically every scene, there’s a stark contrast between darkness and light, with characters’ faces hidden in shadow to mask expressions and, as a result, their true intentions.

I could keep rambling on about Ex Machina, but at some point the words would just turn into a bunch of all-caps gibberish exclaiming how good it is. Better to experience it for yourself, especially as we get into the summer movie season, which is often full of explosions but very little substance. Garland’s film is the exact opposite of that.

Ex Machina is rated R for graphic nudity, language, sexual references and some violence.

Grade: A