Ex Machina

The Turing Test was created in order to see whether or not a machine could exhibit an intelligence that is convincing enough to be indistinguishable from human behavior. What if you knew you were interacting with a robot from the start? Do you think it could convince you otherwise that it was more than just wires and data? Ex Machina is a smart and edgy sci-fi thriller that pushes the boundaries of the Turing Test as it blurs the lines between machines and humans.

After winning a contest at work, computer programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is whisked away by helicopter to a secluded location seemingly out in the middle of nowhere where he’ll spend the next week hanging out with his eccentric and genius of an inventor boss, Nathan (Oscar Isaac). What he initially doesn’t know is that he’s there as the human element in a test of Nathan’s latest artificial intelligence program, a fully built robot named Ava (Alicia Vikander). However, after a series of sessions with Ava, Caleb learns that Nathan might not be exactly the person he’s leading on to be.

At the heart of Ex Machina is Ava, an advanced robot that has the face, hands, and feet of a human, but you can still clearly see her internal wiring. Alicia Vikander does a phenomenal job at walking the line of the uncanny valley. There are times where you can clearly see her robotic programming at work, while other times her humanity - if you can call it that - shines through. Her scenes are slightly unnerving as it’s almost always impossible to tell what she might truly be thinking.

The other two in the trio are Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac who play wonderfully as the tester and testee. Like Ava, you can immediately tell that there’s something not quite right with Nathan. Most of the time he’s either working out or drinking when not trying pick Caleb’s mind. As the film goes on, you can tell there’s tension between the two. I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be after spending a week inside a complex without any other outside interaction.

What Ex Machina does best is that you never really know where it’s going to go beforehand. I had vague ideas of what might happen, but there was never a defining “ah-ha” moment. Even leading up to the final moments, there’s was still a glimmer of doubt in my mind that the tides could quickly turn. Everyone puts on a convincing performance.

Ex Machina has all the makings of a great sci-fi film and doesn’t conform to typical tropes. It’ll make you question the very nature of robotics and humanity and the fine line between them. There aren’t a lot of sci-fi films that can make you do that.