Director: Alex Garland
Talent: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac
Release Date: 21st January 2015
Ex Machina is a film that flaunts its influences for all to see. The film charts a series of interviews between computer programmer Caleb (Gleason) and Ava (Vikander), an A.I. created by search engine mogul Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Director Alex Garland riffs on Blade Runner, Ghost in the Shell and The Stepford Wives but fails to push beyond these works. It’s a work of curation rather than creation: well put together and impressive-looking, with some subtle blending of CGI and practical effects, but far too willing to dip uninspiredly into the science fiction canon to fill the blanks. Isaac is superb as the tech billionaire more interested in creating submissive sex-bots than pushing the A.I. envelope, a little like the film as a whole: slick and seductive but stuck in the shadow of its betters.
Words: Luke Maxwell
