It’s pretty much a given that as soon as human-like robots are invented, someone (most likely male scientists) will figure out how to turn them into sex machines. Now, please don’t think I’m being a pervert. While we’d like to think we would be using such awesome scientific advancements to better mankind, mankind as a whole are gluttons for pleasure. Ex Machina isn’t wholly about sex with robots — it’s deeper than that of course — but the basic premise is essentially about a lonely computer programmer who gets hot for a robot with a cute face, which leads him to make rash decisions like most lonely men do when confronted with a pretty face (though in most cases that pretty face isn’t on a robot).
Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson) is a coder at the world’s most popular search engine — that’s Blue Book, not Google — who is selected to spend a week with the company’s founder and search engine creator Jay (Oscar Isaac) at his remote research facility. Jay is an enigmatic figure who is equal parts brilliant, arrogant, laid-back, and, well, self-absorbed tool. He is attempting to create the most lifelike robot ever devised and he wants Caleb to help him test the AI. His latest model is Ava (Alicia Vikander), and there is an instant attraction between Caleb and the innocent, curious Ava. While that connection grows with each daily meeting, Caleb becomes increasingly suspicious of Jay’s aims for this project, especially when Ava warns Caleb not to trust Jay.
Spike Jonze‘s Her tells a similar story about a lonely man falling in love with AI and reveals why that is ultimately a hollow pursuit because humans and AI do not have the same need for companionship. Ex Machina touches upon these same ideas, but without the comedy. Well, Isaac has some several funny quips in the film — and a hilariously out-of-left-field dance sequence — but this is a straight near-future sci-fi thriller. In Her there is little doubt that the protagonist is using his AI as a surrogate for a real-life relationship. Ex Machina doesn’t make that distinction and suggests that Caleb is completely smitten with Ava and that there isn’t much of a distinction between being smitten with a person versus bein smitten with a robot. The thought of the ingenue-like robot being seduced and/or seducing Caleb just added a creep factor that I found hard to ignore. Yes, it’s a robot, but it’s a robot that is acting like a child with a schoolgirl crush — for example, she draws him doodles to impress him — and Jay pointing out that he made Ava with working sex organs just pushes that a bit too close to the creep line. Maybe I’m just hung up on that, but it seemed equal parts sleazy and silly to me. Is Caleb really that lonely? Or is this a symptom of modern culture that young folks can’t make a distinction between humans and advanced technology? I mean, are teens these days falling in love with their cell phones and tablets? Gleeson also played a conflicted loner much better in last year’s Frank.
Besides the whole “falling in love with AI” concept, Ex Machina relates to classic sci-fi by being a cautionary tale about the dangers of AI. On that level, Ex Machina is fascinating. Screenwriter Alex Garland (Dredd, 28 Days Later) makes his directorial debut with Ex Machina, and there’s definitely a unique style to it. There’s a lot of interesting material here, but as I’ve noted it’s hard to get past the initial conceit. Luckily, Garland ends his film in a much more interesting way than just making Caleb and Ava the Romeo and Juliet of robot love.
Other reviewers will likely call Garland a “visionary” for this film (it got a lot of positive buzz coming out of SXSW), but I much prefer Dredd and 28 Days Later to Ex Machina. As a whole, it reaches too far into territory that has been done better — and more believable — elsewhere.
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