Ex Machina

If Alex Garland put as much effort into elaborating the psychological and symbolic aspects as he did designing the environment and pretending to be witty, this would certainly be a very complex film. Unfortunately, this is something I call hipster sci-fi - a film focused on looking good and giving a strong first impression. As soon as you take his game seriously and start a discussion with him, you will find that he is saying semi-apathetic and nicely formulated phases, whilst pretending to be revelatory. Sure, in front of Pollock, every conversation sounds a little smarter and the female beauty near Klimt hurts even more, but Ex Machina is much better at dancing disco, showing great macho poses by Oscar Isaac and presenting the murderously fragile sex appeal of Alicia Vikander (when she is mass-produced, I will marry her), rather than amazing through the somewhat funny tactile details and mannerist backlights, which importantly tell us that Ex Machina is not just fun history. But it's really nothing more. Joseph Kosinski goes indie, for better or worse. [70%] (29.04.2015)

Ex Machina is a sensitive and engaging depiction of artificial intelligence shrouded in mystery with a pleasant sci-fi feel. The actress playing the female android is great. But the surprising twist and the way it is used dramatically proves that screenwriter and director Alex Garland might not be as clever as his brilliant male heroes. (22.05.2015)

As a matter of fact, the premise is pretty simple and builds on the psychology of two characters and one android. It is nice that films like this one get to be filmed these days, but the more of them there is, the more critical I am towards them and here everything stands and falls by the premise, which is not bad, but it is a base for a rather small-scale film. At least the ending made everything pretty clear. (05.06.2015)

Ex Machina doesn’t bring anything groundbreaking, untraditional or shocking to the table, but the way it gets to its (non-revolutionary) outcome is so convincing that I was enchanted by Garland and I even considered giving him five stars. The script is very smart, it confuses the viewer with a variety of frantic possibilities for the plot to move forward (that they have to figure out together with, Caleb, the protagonist), only to take the less crazy and more logical path. The viewer is basically in the skin of Caleb and the ending feels like a devastating revelation. Whenever I thought that the script was getting stupid, after a couple of minutes it became clear that what was stupid was the behaviour of one of the characters, and the script was very well aware of that stupidity. Ex Machina is sci-fi in the tradition of the best representatives of the film and literary genre. The soundtrack and the design of the interiors and exteriors also deserve special praise. (03.05.2015)

Clear evidence that electronics labeled smart are a potential threat. That’s why I decided to disconnect my smart washing machine. I'll miss the quiet rustling of my dirty laundry, but what wouldn't a man do for safety. I also unplugged my computer because it was suspiciously overheating while playing this movie, and my monitor because it was flickering suspiciously. I'm glad I caught it so early, no one will make a fool of me! (05.09.2015)