Ex Machina Review by Tom West

Published by Leftover Brian

June 17, 2015 2:19 pm | Leave your thoughts

Pop Culture Leftovers Ratings System

Toss It = Hated It

Taste It = Liked It

Tupperware = Loved it

Now on to the review…

Ex Machina

 

This is a stylish and moderately intelligent Sci-fi film, on a small scale and based around three main characters, and tries to bring some psychological realism to the concept of creating and interacting with an AI.

 

The main strength of the film is with the execution of the concept, with twists and turns, although that last turn is a little unbelievable, given the naivete of the character and was actually too Hollywood. I feel Garland copped-out a little there, but overall, I was pleased with how self contained the narrative was; it has a personal feel that echoes Duncan Jones’ Moon, and I would probably put it in the same category. It also has some great production design and the cinematography is quite astounding, given the limited setting, the medium is well-used here, and there is a nice 5-note musical nod to another, greater science fiction film in a leitmotif that accompanies Ava, played with commendable restraint by Alicia Vikander. Gleeson and Isaac are great in their roles, and complement each other’s characters well, their talents are almost precocious, as neither are what you might call seasoned actors.

 

I think it deserves comparisons with better recent sci-fi films such as Chronicle and Moon and, as with them, the effects do not distract but enhance the story, something major studios still have trouble with in every other film of the genre. 

Alex Garland has made a terrific debut here, and personally, I would like to see him avoid going the way of Gareth Edwards, Rian Johnson and Josh Trank by being signed onto a blockbuster juggernaut with the accompanying creative strictures, preferably remaining aloof from them for some time, not that I don’t like those films (I loved Pacific Rim and Winter Soldier), but he’s not the sort of director they’d require. 

The hard-sci-fi fan in me wants him to remain with this sort of film, although his shooting style would lend itself to thrillers and perhaps more psychological horrors, another genre sorely lacking in recent years.

 

Overall, I Tupperware this film (for me, that means going onto my shelf as a Blu-Ray), and was pleased to find it lived up to most of my expectations.

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Tags: Alex Garland, Ex Machina, pop culture leftovers, Tom West

Categorised in: Movie Reviews

This post was written by Leftover Brian