Finally! After a long, long dry spell with absolutely nothing worth even writing about, there's finally a movie worth raving about. It;s the directorial debut of Alex Garland, who in the past has written several interesting films with sci-fi themes, such as "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine" and "Never Let Me Go." Suffice it to say this won't be his last film as a director -- Natalie Portman has already been mentioned as signing on to star in his next movie. He managed to shoot "Ex Machina" on a budget of only 11 million dollars. That amount of money would barely have paid for five minutes of the recent "Avengers: Age Of Ultron," and "Ex Machina" is by far the better movie. It's intelligent, it's respectful of both the science of AI and the history of science fiction about AI, and it's got a trio of acting performances that are among the best of the year.
Domhnall Gleeson (who obviously inherited his father Brendan Gleeson's acting chops) is tremendous as the young nerd mysteriously transported to an isolated location to perform a Turing Test on a robot named Ava who just might have achieved sentience. Oscar Issac is tremendous as the brilliant but more than a little creepy mega-billionaire who created Ava. And then there is stunningly beautiful Alicia Vikander as Ava; suffice it to say we'll be seeing a LOT more of her. The shooting location -- in reality a beautiful eco-resort in Norway -- is almost a fourth main character, and provides a strong backdrop for the film. I've included a fairly safe, low-spoiler trailer below. Avoid any others, especially the one on IMDB, because they'll spoil the movie for you. You must trust me on this. Just dive into this movie and allow it to tell it's own story, with as few preconceptions as possible. It's the best film I've seen this year. Ex Machina - Official International Trailer 1 (Universal Pictures) HD | | | | | | | | | | | Ex Machina - Official International Trailer 1 (Universal... | | | | View on www.youtube.com | Preview by Yahoo | | | | |
