Action fans beware: this is not I, Robot. Here, Alex Garland does Stanley Kubrick but with the important element that Kubrick often missed: humanity. Ex Machina is a perfectly controlled, flawlessly designed film that manages to juggle cool intellectual detachment and emotional engagement very finely indeed, also seen in the grander thematic and visual juxtapositions of man/machine, nature/technology and art/construction. Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac both deliver wonderfully natural and terrific performances, and Alicia Vikander pitches the AI/robot Ava just right in both tone and movement. A haunting and ominous soundtrack by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury complements the on-screen action superbly. It could be argued that the only real flaws are the jarring objectification of women (nudity and their presentation as sex-robots and an unnecessary coda (reminiscent of the first theatrical cut of Blade Runner but less unwanted here), as Ex Machina is otherwise an excellent, thoughtful and thought-provoking film, artfully constructed and immensely satisfying.
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