Ex Machina (film)
Ex Machina (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Ex Machina (disambiguation).
| Ex Machina | |
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British release poster
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| Directed by | Alex Garland |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Alex Garland |
| Starring | |
| Music by | |
| Cinematography | Rob Hardy |
| Edited by | Mark Day |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Universal Pictures International |
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Release dates
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Running time
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108 minutes[1] |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million[2] |
| Box office | $36.8 million[3] |
Contents
Plot
Caleb is a programmer working for Bluebook, the world's most popular search engine. He is chosen to visit the company's eccentric CEO, Nathan, at his secluded research facility in the mountains. The only other person there is Kyoko, a young housemaid.Nathan reveals he has been working on artificial intelligence (AI) and wants Caleb to administer the Turing test to Ava, a humanoid robot with AI. The Turing test is designed to test a computer's ability to persuade the tester it is human. Caleb points out that this is not a fair test, as he already knows Ava is an AI; Nathan responds that Caleb must judge whether he can relate to Ava despite knowing she is an AI.
Nathan reveals that he harvested personal information from billions of Bluebook users, using their search queries as indicators of human thought. He hacked billions of cell phones for recordings of people's expressions and body language, so Ava's behavior would be more realistic.
Through the course of their conversations, Caleb feels more and more connected to Ava, with whom he communicates through a transparent wall, as Ava is confined to her apartment. Ava uses her charging system to trigger blackouts to shut down the surveillance system. During one of these blackouts, she tells Caleb that Nathan is a liar who cannot be trusted. As time goes on, owing to Ava's human-like behavior that appears to include real emotions, Caleb becomes convinced that Ava's confinement is abuse. Nathan reveals that Ava will be reprogrammed in the future, which would effectively kill her current personality.
One night, after Nathan passes out from drinking, Caleb watches recordings of previously built robots and discovers Kyoko is an AI. The following day Caleb asks Ava to initiate a blackout, during which he tells her that he will get Nathan drunk again and help her escape, and asks her to trigger another blackout at 10pm. The next day Nathan refuses to drink, and reveals that he heard Caleb and Ava with a battery-operated camera. He tells Caleb that Ava does not love him but is merely using him to escape from the compound. Nathan divulges his real motive for inviting Caleb: to see if Ava can be convincing enough to trick a human into helping her escape.
When Ava triggers the blackout, Caleb reveals he had already reprogrammed the doors to open while Nathan was drunk the previous night. Ava attempts to escape from the facility, sharing a few words with Kyoko. Nathan knocks Caleb unconscious and damages Ava, but is stabbed by Kyoko (whom Nathan destroys) and then by Ava, both displaying an utter lack of remorse. Nathan dies and Ava appropriates components from other android prototypes to acquire the appearance of a real woman. After putting on a dress, she walks out and leaves Caleb trapped inside Nathan's compound (presumably to die), again remorseless. Ava is picked up by the helicopter meant for Caleb and enters human society, standing at a busy intersection.
Cast
- Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb Smith
- Alicia Vikander as Ava
- Sonoya Mizuno as Kyoko
- Oscar Isaac as Nathan Bateman
- Symara A. Templeman as Jasmine
- Elina Alminas as Amber
- Gana Bayarsaikhan as Jade
- Tiffany Pisani as Katya
- Claire Selby as Lily
Production
The foundation for Ex Machina was laid when Garland was 11 or 12 years old, after he had done some basic coding and experimentation on a computer his parents had bought him and which he sometimes felt had a mind of its own.[7] His later ideas came from years of discussions he had been having with a friend with an expertise in neuroscience, who claimed machines could never become sentient. Trying to find an answer on his own, he started reading relevant books about the topic. During the pre-production of Dredd, while going through a book by Murray Shanahan about consciousness and embodiment, Garland had an "epiphany". The idea was written down and put aside till later.[8] Shanahan, along with Adam Rutherford, became a consultant for the film, and the ISBN of his book is referred to as an easter egg in the film.[9][10] Other inspirations came from films like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, Altered States, and books written by Ludwig Wittgenstein, Ray Kurzweil and others.[11] Wanting total creative freedom, without having to add conventional action sequences, he made the film on as small a budget as possible.[12]The film was shot like ordinary live action. There were no special effects, greenscreen, or tracking markers used during filming. All effects were done in post-production. To create Ava's robotic features they filmed the scenes both with and without actress Alicia Vikander's presence, which allowed them to capture the background behind her. The parts they wanted to keep, especially her hands and face, were then rotoscoped while the rest was digitally painted out and the background behind her restored. Camera- and body-tracking systems transferred Vikander's performance to the CGI robot's movements. In total there were about 800 VFX shots, of which 350 or so were robot shots.[13][14]
Filming
Shooting was done in the summer of 2013 for four weeks at Pinewood Studios and for two weeks at Juvet Landscape Hotel in Valldalen, Norway.[15] Everything was filmed in digital at 4K resolution,[16] and 15,000 mini-tungsten pea bulb lights were installed into the sets at Pinewood Studios to avoid the fluorescent light that often is characteristic in science fiction films.[17]Music
The musical score for Ex Machina was composed by Ben Salisbury and Geoff Barrow, who previously worked with Alex Garland on Dredd (2012).[18] A soundtrack album was released digitally on 20 January 2015, with an LP and Compact Disc UK release in February 2015 by Invada Records.[19] Additional songs featured in the film include:[20]- "Enola Gay" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
- "Get Down Saturday Night" by Oliver Cheatham
- "Husbands" by Savages
- "Piano Sonata No 21 D. 960 in B-flat Major" (first movement) by Franz Schubert
Release
Ex Machina was released in the United Kingdom on 21 January 2015 through Universal Pictures.[21] The film screened on 14 March 2015 at the South by Southwest festival prior to a theatrical release in the United States on 10 April 2015 by A24 Films.[22][23]Critical reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 92%, based on 201 reviews, with a rating average of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Ex Machina leans heavier on ideas than effects, but it's still a visually polished piece of work—and an uncommonly engaging sci-fi feature."[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[24] The Movie Review Query Engine (MRQE) rates the film at 78 out of 100, based on 90 film critic reviews.[25] The magazine New Scientist in a multi-page review said, "It is a rare thing to see a movie about science that takes no prisoners intellectually ... [it] is a stylish, spare and cerebral psycho-techno thriller, which gives a much needed shot in the arm for smart science fiction."[26]The New York Times critic Manohla Dargis gave the film a 'Critic's Pick', calling it "a smart, sleek movie about men and the machines they make".[27] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times recommended the film, stating: "Shrewdly imagined and persuasively made, 'Ex Machina' is a spooky piece of speculative fiction that's completely plausible, capable of both thinking big thoughts and providing pulp thrills."[28] Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer film critic, gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, writing: "Like stage actors who live and breathe their roles over the course of months, Isaac, Gleeson, and Vikander excel, and cast a spell."[29]
Matt Zoller Seitz from RogerEbert.com praised the use of ideas, ideals, and exploring society's male and female roles, through the use of an artificial intelligence. He also stated that the tight scripting and scenes allowed the film to move towards a fully justified and predictable end. He gave a rating of 4 out of 4 stars, stating that this film would be a classic.[30] IGN reviewer Chris Tilly gave the film a 9.0 out of 10 'Amazing' score, saying "Anchored by three dazzling central performances, it's a stunning directorial debut from Alex Garland that's essential viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in where technology is taking us."[31]
Mike Scott, writing for the New Orleans Times, said, "It's a theme Mary Shelley brought us in Frankenstein, which was first published in 1818. That was almost 200 years ago. And while Ex Machina replaces the stitches and neck bolts with gears and fiber-optics, it all feels an awful lot like the same story."[32] Jaime Perales Contreras, writing for Letras Libres, compared Ex Machina as a gothic experience similar to a modern version of Frankenstein, saying "both the novel Frankenstein and the movie Ex Machina share the history of a fallible god in a continuous battle against his creation."[33] Steve Dalton from The Hollywood Reporter stated, "The story ends in a muddled rush, leaving many unanswered questions. Like a newly launched high-end smartphone, Ex Machina looks cool and sleek, but ultimately proves flimsy and underpowered. Still, for dystopian future-shock fans who can look beyond its basic design flaws, Garland’s feature debut functions just fine as superior pulp sci-fi."[
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