Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a coder at Bluebook (the story's version of Google) has won a lottery at work -- and the prize is to visit the company's CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac) in his high tech, reclusive bungalow in the woods, spending a week under the CONTROL of an NDA agreement. The film starts very abruptly, throwing the audience into the story with nary a detail about Caleb... but, though scarce information is later gleaned about him, development for his character becomes vastly unimportant as the real star of the story becomes clear: Ava (Alicia Vikander) is an AI robot, Nathan's latest experiment. Nathan has called Caleb to his base to give Ava the Turing Test (which determines a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of a human), through which he will decide whether Ava is complete -- or if he needs to make another prototype.
I won't give you too much more of the story, because it's worth it just to get thrown into the narrative, but suffice it to say, some major mind games are played between characters. As Caleb explores Ava's mind, Ava in turn explores her limits, as Nathan watches on. The film unfolds some feminist concepts, offering a study of objectification and liberation within a sci-fi context.
With only a handful of characters holding the film together, credit must be given to the cast. Each gave phenomenal performances -- while I wouldn't say it's Gleeson's best work, he still did a great job. But Vikander and Isaac steal the show, and I think this will be an exploding moment in Vikander's career.
It's a beautiful film, entrenched in suspense and scenes that will leave you thinking about them long after the credits roll. EX MACHINA is now playing at the Midtown Cinema! Don't miss this one.
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