Ex-Machina Review

Ex-Machina Review

Ex-Machina was directed and written by Alex Garland who is well known for amazing dystopia type screen-writings like Never Let Me Go which Ex-Machina certainly lives up to. This twisting tale, full of dramatic plot twists stars a well credited cast of Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac who perfectly act out their roles to create truly convincing characters that engage the audience.

The producers of the film are Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich, Macdonald who has worked with Garland before; this great team produced a simply stunning film with the aid of the effects from the company Double Negative. Double Negative are a critically acclaimed British special effects company that have won Academy Awards for previous and also gained another for Ex-Machina. This prestige shows just how good these effects were, with Alicia’s incredible acting and the ever realistic effects it was easy to forget the character Ava was a robot just like Caleb did in the film. The production took place in a mere six weeks, with a budget of $15 million although the audience would never even guess this a low budget film. Using gorgeous locations like Norway to shoot the impressive outside scenes and this cleverly added an air of sophistication to the film which hooked audiences. The film score of this film is owed a lot of credit for increasing audience enjoyment and empathises with the characters. Conducted by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow the film score is perfect match to increase the tension and suspense during the film. The special effects used to create Ava such as using rotoscoping and camera and body tracking systems, with the soundtrack and all acted immaculately created a brilliant film.

The ethical and moral questions raised in this film really do hit home to the audience and leave them reeling and wondering after the film. Ex-Machina covers the ethical issues of when a machine/robot is no longer a machine, has consciousness and is human. This is where the film delves into when or if you should give conscious machines human rights, such as not being locked up and allowed freedom which is something Ava suffers from. Due to Ava being brilliantly acted by Alicia Vikander and the audience viewing everything from Caleb’s view point again expertly acted by Domhnall Gleeson the audience quickly begin to feel for Ava and see her as human. The amazing effects must also be credited here as this helps to portray the ethical issues in this film and helping create Ava be seen as a life like human, which allows the audience to really reflect on ethical raised.

Overall I believe this film is a very cleverly written with the plot twists really shocking the audience and well produced and directed. The acting and special effects deserve extra credit for really bringing the film to life allowing the ethical issues to be raised and accurately portrayed. Everything manages to tie in every well in this film from the music to the locations used which leads it hard to believe that film is a low budget production.