Despite my silly summary statement, I liked this film. Now there are some issues that one might confront. One would be motivation. A genius is able to turn his company into the biggest money maker in the world. He goes off to his own paradise and begins to work magic with artificial intelligence. He builds an incredibly sexy android, and then maneuvers a young man to his on the ruse that they will be working together. We quickly see that he is not honest with the young guy and he has somehow become a pawn in his sick game. The point of everything is to see if the young man and the android can forget what they are and establish a loving, caring, relationship. The problem is that there has been a lot of programming and abusiveness, and this leads to a sort of rebellion. Unfortunately, we begin with one character stacking the deck. But, he has some real issues with alcohol and self abuse. Back to motivation. Is this a story about a man, or does it have broader themes relating to creating machines that are potentially self engendering and superior. These questions alone make this a worthwhile film. Visually, it is utterly fantastic.

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) is a computer programmer at the biggest internet company which has a search engine and Bluebook. He's brought to the remote compound of its owner Nathan (Oscar Isaac). Nathan gives him a week to perform a Turing test on his new AI in the form of Ava (Alicia Vikander).

Domhnall Gleeson has to sell this if it's to work. Alicia Vikander is more than a hot girl which helps a lot. I find Oscar Isaac playing only one note. This led me to a wrong guess. The resolution is an interesting one and not necessarily my expected one. The concepts are really interesting and this indie has a great look. Ava is hypnotic. This is one of the best smaller sci-fi from Alex Garland who's usually a writer.

EX MACHINA is one of those wearing philosophical science fiction movies all about concept and with barely any plot to bolster that concept. I prefer films the other way around, where interesting issues are explored via a good story. Here, we get two guys and a robot in a house, where the scriptwriter takes plenty of time to explore the subject of artificial intelligence. For any sci-fi fan watching, there are zero surprises here; everything plays out exactly as you'd expect, and it takes ages to get to that point. Oscar Isaac gives a reliable performance but the one-dimensional Domhnall Gleeson is miscast and Alicia Vikander unconvincing. Some decent CGI effects are the only thing this long-winded and slightly pretentious tale has going for it.