Wow, what a kickass flick this is.

I really knew very little about what to expect and that's how I prefer to go into a movie.  I also am going to recommend it with this one, so no spoilers will be following.

This is written and directed by Alex Garland, of 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd, but this is his first time directing, and he really shows some serious talent with the pacing and overall look of this film.

The small cast is incedible and all deserve shout outs.

Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb.  His performance gets stronger as the movie goes on, basically because his character and confidence is growing and he's able to show alot more personality.

Oscar Isaac plays Nathan.  I've never seen him before, but he's a serious acting force to be reckoned with.  His character is both brilliant and idiotic at the same time, and his personna is both goofy and laid back, but fiery and quite scary even.  Masterful performance and a wonderfully written character.

Which leaves us with the beautiful Alicia Vikander, as Ava, the AI.  It's tough to come up with mere words to describe her performance or her character.  The CG effects are marvelous, while a little understated, which just makes it all the better, IMO.  It's really hard not to feel for her, fear for her, hope for her, or maybe even fear her, period.  Hell of a job!

The lines are quite blurred when it comes to who is the Protag and who is the Antag, and that's something I frequently go for as well, in my writing.  It may seem very simple who's who, but there's so much going on here under the surface, that you may well still be thinking about this well after the movie's over.

The range of emotions on display here runs the gambit, really, and I'm not just talking about our characters...I'm also talking about what viewers will be thinking.  This is a slow, twisty, turny ride in which you'll never see the track in front of you.

Although  slow, and with little real action, there's real power on display...power of story, pacing, and raw emotions that all play over extremely deep material that can be taken numerous ways, depending on your philosophies, studies, knowledge, or downright feelings.

Really hard to see much wrong, other than a few plot contrivances here and there.  Overall, this movie is what movies should be all about.  It looks great, it makes you think, and it keeps you guessing...oh yeah, and it's got a shitload of nudity.

Grade - A+

A solid film that cannot and should not be ignored. Plus, it looks slick as shit. The acting, directing, and score are all top notch.

My only complaint with the movie is that it's receiving too much hype. So my expectations were a bit too high going in. One critic stated that it's unlike anything you've ever seen before...which is kind of true. Just don't expect anything TOO crazy to happen.

Anyways, this film deserves your money. Plus, as Jeff already stated, there's a ton of nudity. Double win!

Reminded me of the Island of Dr Moreau. But slower, not as exciting. It's all been done before and better, but this is a solid effort. Worth watching.

It was Okay. I expected more, given the hype. I was a bit underwhelmed. Worth a viewing though.

I was disappointed with this. It's a great idea with a good cast and decent story. I just didn't buy the robot business. The idea one guy could create a robot with a convincing human face got silly.

I couldn't help thinking it's just an actress in a green suit. If her face had been just a little less real looking I might have bought it. I was more convinced by Data in Star Trek.

R

Quoted Text Ex Machina (stylized as ex_machina) is a 2015 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by Alex Garland. It stars Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno and Oscar Isaac. Ex Machina tells the story of a programmer who is invited by his employer to administer the Turing test to an android with artificial intelligence. Made on a budget of $15 million, the film grossed over $36 million worldwide and received positive reviews.

- Wikipedia

I thought this film was really good, and there's an uneasy tension throughout the whole thing.  Oscar Isaac was very convincing in this film, and he was the driving force behind the whole thing in my opinion.  If you like films which explore the concept of artificial intelligence, then this is more than likely the film for you.  It isn't an action piece, and it could be considered a slow burn for those who are perhaps impatient, but I don't think you'll regret giving it a try because it's a very interesting piece of work.

Holla.

Brilliant film. Loved the eeriness, and Isaac gave the perfect performance in my opinion. One of the better films I've seen in the past year.

There's already a thread for this movie, started by me, of course.   ;D ;D ;D

Oh right :(

EDIT: Yeah, I just found it.

Good film tho, and it's probably worthy of two threads.

One of my favorites this year.

This film is all about the Nathan character IMO, and the actor's performance had me glued to the screen.  There was a sense of uneasiness whenever he was on screen because we weren't quite sure what his motivations were, and he didn't seem like your typical egg-head.

He didn't like to talk about things in Scientific terms, and instead wanted a simplified discussion about Ava... and then we got Ava telling us (the audience) not to trust him... and that leads us down another road of "Who is the enemy here?  Is it Nathan?  Or is it Ava?"

I just loved the mystery of the whole thing, but I felt the ending could've been handled better, and maybe that was because I wanted to trust the robot.

Top film and very surprising, and it of course gets a recommend from myself... whatever that is worth.

Masterfully done. I saw this weeks ago and it resonates with me still. It is the scariest example I've ever seen with the exploration of AI. For once, it doesn't over power us with brute force, It truly outsmarts the smartest man on earth and we get to see it.

I can see why this isn't for everyone, but it blew me away.

James

Was not in love with this as some of the others here. I thought it was just a B maybe a B- - I would have liked more of a back story on the protag. Special effects were great though.

This one was good, but I certainly wasn't blown off the couch by it.

I liked Nathan. Found him attractive even though he looked to be part of the bear community. Maybe just a trend.

Looked good and acting was good, but I found my mind wandering at times.

Quoted from Grandma Bear This one was good, but I certainly wasn't blown off the couch by it. I liked Nathan. Found him attractive even though he looked to be part of the bear community. Maybe just a trend. Looked good and acting was good, but I found my mind wandering at times.

It's fashionable now to look like a bear. In my country, a bear is actually slang for a large gay man with a beard.

I found this oddly disappointing, overall.

I liked it. It was remarkably well-made, but underneath the perfect veneer and atmosphere, I didn't really feel it.

Hard to say what was missing for me.

Unlike others, I didn't really buy into the Nathan character. I just didn't buy that he was a genius..at all. It's always a problem for writers when they write a genius into the script..because the writers are rarely clever enough to write actual genius, so it always seems faux. I saw similar problems in Limitless.

The other problem was the lack of new ideas. Everything here was already dealt with in Bladerunner, Terminator..even films like D.A.R.Y.L and AI. There's a film called the Machine on Netflix, which is far lower budget, but is a very similar story, and it all just ended in the typical Vernor Vinge, "Humans will be obsolete" manner. The trick was reasonably well disguised, but it was still just a trick.

Good, but not quite great for me.

I know this is a thread from last year. But I just saw this movie 2 days ago and I'm still thinking about it.

Honestly, I thought it was remarkable. Really well made cinema.

It's also amazing how great the CGI quality was, given the entire budget was only 15 Mio. And I actually like how they portrayed Nathan. He really isn't the type of genius you see all the time. His dialogue isn't entirely cryptic and only understandable if you have a PhD. He's a lot more physical and Alpha-Male.

I loved how even though he was also being manipulated, Caleb was in deed highly intelligent. I think Ava didn't blink once the entire movie. Which made her performance more believable.

Now I'm not saying this is the best movie ever. But it was mesmerizing for me personally. And in my opinion great cinema. And there were a lot of scenes that I'll always remember. The speech about how A.I. will view us humans in the future, Caleb going crazy in the bathroom, Ava's response as to what might happen to her if she doesn't pass the test and man the dancing scene.

The dancing scene alone is reason enough to see this movie at least once.

I really enjoyed this. Didn't go in with a lot of expectation but was definitely impressed.

Quoted from Vlade-B And I actually like how they portrayed Nathan. He really isn't the type of genius you see all the time. His dialogue isn't entirely cryptic and only understandable if you have a PhD. He's a lot more physical and Alpha-Male.

Totally agree. Was expecting some mad scientist type rambling on about things I can't understand. I still bought in to him being a genius, partly because he had this way of speaking, like he already knew the answer to everything and was testing to see if we did. But it was constantly at odds with his otherwise fratboy-like demeanor.

The constant drinking, the working out... it was like if some alcoholic frat guy suddenly gained 100 IQ points and was trying to come to terms with his newfound genius. Which should have made him unbelievable, but for some reason I completely bought it. It was too unique of a clash not to. I hated him, but I bought into his character.

One of my favorites from last year.