Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Ex Machina’

Written by Scott Edwards

Why do we create, why do we build, why do we imagine? A good answer to all of these questions is that if we don’t do it, someone else will. Being able to come up with a way to make something that the world could use may not be the worst thing to do, but if you are doing it for your own benefit, well, you might need to take a look in the mirror. Trying to make something new is difficult and full of obstacles, but if you truly believe in what you are doing, they are much easier to overcome.

Caleb is a young computer programmer that is happy with what he does, and now has been made even happier when receiving news that he won an important contest. The winner is given a week off to visit with the CEO at his mountain retreat that nobody ever gets to visit. Being whisked away by helicopter, Caleb is able to see how much land his boss has but does not know what to think when he meets the man. Nathan seems like a nice person upon his first meeting with his young employee, but Caleb is trying to control his excitement and isn't saying a whole lot. 

After arriving in his room, Caleb is shocked to hear that Nathan has something very exciting for him to witness for the week. Signing a non-disclosure agreement, Caleb is now privy to the latest experiment by Nathan, actual Artificial Intelligence. Caleb is asked to perform the Turing Test on Nathan’s new invention to see if his AI could be considered human or machine. Sitting in an empty room, Caleb meets Ava, an android that appears to be alive. Asking her questions, Caleb starts to believe that there might be something special about her and as long as she has not been specifically programmed to properly answer the questions by Nathan, there might be something special about her intelligence. 

Giving feedback to Nathan about every session, Caleb is blown away by the feats he accomplishes with Ava. Learning little bits and pieces about how it works, Nathan seems to be holding something back from what he is really doing in the mountains. But by hearing about how the search engine that Nathan created that made him a very rich man played everything into Ava’s development, Caleb knows he is in the room with a genius. There is something very special about Ava and Caleb is starting to get attached to her more and more each day and vice versa. Ava has made a new friend, but with the new friendship, there has to be more give and take and it starts to take its toll on Caleb when he finds out what has been really happening in the complex. Being forced to question his own sanity, along with why he was selected to the go to the complex, Caleb wants to find a way to protect his new friend from the wrath of Nathan, but is it really the right thing to do?

There was a ton of hype over this movie when it first came out and while I expected a little more, I did enjoy it. All of the actors delivered great performances in their roles. I especially enjoyed Nathan’s role in the movie, being the good guy, being a 'God', then being the baddie, that's quite the range to have to cover in a movie. Ava’s growth in the movie was also great, but you are left not knowing what was real in her brain and what was programmed in, it is really up to the viewer to decide. Overall, it is a good movie and when watching it, there is a chance you may be able to see and figure out what is really happening before it is revealed. Happy Viewing.

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