Ex Machina

Cast: Domhall Gleeson, Corey Johnson, Oscar Issac, Alicia Vikander and Sonoya Mizuno

Director: Alex Garland

Release Date: 2015

Running Time: 1hr 48 minutes

Genre: Mystery/Sci fi

Rating: 15

Format: Blu-Ray

Synopsis: 

Caleb is a programmer for the world's biggest internet company, he wins a competition to spend a week in a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan the CEO of the company. Caleb is asked to participate in a top secret experiment with Nathan, he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence.

Ex Machina = From the machine

Alex Garland hit author of the adventure novel "The Beach" directs this wonderful Sci Fi thriller. Caleb (Domhall Gleeson) is a programmer for the biggest internet company in the world when he wins a competition to spend a week in a private mountain retreat owned by CEO Nathan. Whilst Caleb is there he's asked to participate in a top secret experiment with Nathan, his task? To interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence. If all of Garland's movies are as good as this one, I'm really looking forward to the next! Domhall Gleeson is someone you may recognize more from "Harry Potter" as one of the Weasley brothers. He's not the most talented actor in the world, however his performance is still very very good. Ex Machina is a movie you have to be extremely patient with, it's set in one place and at any given moment shows potentially only one actor on screen. It does however add to the mystery of the story beautifully.

What I love most about this movie is the fact that the characters are very mysterious. As a member of the audience you are given next to no information on Caleb, apart from the fact that he's a programmer for a huge company. You aren't told anything about Nathan, all you know is he owns the company and owns a massive piece of land, where he's been working on something very secretive. Alicia Vikander is absolutely fabulous, if you thought Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance portraying a cyborg in "Terminator" was good, wait till you see her performance in this, with the incredible use of special effects and cinematography, it's hard to believe Vikander is anything but a robot. Garland wants you to ask a lot of questions when watching this movie and even at the end he doesn't want you to have them answered.

Ex Machina is a gorgeous looking movie. Despite it being set in the middle of nowhere, cinematographer Rob Hardy has truly captured the beauty of Norway. The mansion that you see in the film is actually a hotel in Norway called the Juvet Landscape hotel. The production department were absolutely spot on when choosing a location for their movie, or a building to show Ava in, because it adds to the storyline beautifully. It's mysterious and secluded, it's hard to believe the place even exists, it's truly futuristic and considering the movie is to do with artificial intelligence it works wonderfully with the storyline. The lighting in this film really adds to the setting and the tone of the film, mysterious and dark, only showing light when truly needed in certain scenes it really adds so much mystery to the film, which is excellent.

Ben Salisbury has created one of the most beautiful scores for 2014, just like the set design, the soundtrack is also very mysterious and works with the storyline and actors perfectly. The music that is presented on screen when we're introduced to Ava is absolutely beautiful, how would you react if you were suddenly introduced to artificial intelligence? Director Alex Garland has really thought about everything aspect when it comes to this movie, the music works beautifully with the actors, the set design, the production design, you can practically hear the score telling a story on it's own. It's touching and beautiful just like the storyline. Don't be put off by the trailers, Ex Machina can easily look like a boring movie to naked eye, this is easily one of the most stunning looking Sci Films to date. Alex Garland has truly surprised his audiences with his skills, not only a gifted author but a very talented director too. Absolutely stunning, an absolute must have for any Sci Fi nut. The ending will truly make your jaw drop and make you question everything! Absolutely perfect.

Blu-Ray Special Features:

The Story: 

Alex Garland and the actors talk about the storyline. A very short featurette.

The Cast: 

A short featurette of the actors chatting about their characters.

The Design:

A look at the production design and location for Ex Machina with Director Alex Garland

Creating Ava: 

A look at creating, robot Ava.

The special features aren't that great sadly, the featurettes are only a couple of minutes long which is a shame.

5/5 stars