ex machina review

The film ex machine is a film about an inventor, Nathan, of an "AI" (artificial intelligence) who gets an employee, Caleb, from his company to test out his AI, Ava. Nathan sets a competition for a member of his company to join him out in his house/ research lab to do research, on his new AI.

The cast consists of only 10 members, the 3 main people were Nathan, Caleb and Ava the rest of the cast don’t have more than 1 line to say and some don’t even speak at all. This shows that the director can do lots with a small budget. Having a small cast helps creates the effect of how much they are in the wilderness, it can also create a feeling of loneliness which how in the end it helps everyone turn onto each other.

The production companies were Film 4 and DNA Films; these are both British companies, therefore making this a British film. Film 4 hasn’t ever really made a high budget film; this makes it harder for them to get the recognition for the work. DNA Films have made more films than film 4 so they come with more experience but again with film 4 they come with a smaller budget meaning it is harder to get the word out. They have got a good name for them selves as with most of their films they have made a profit, some profits were over 10 times their budget (28 days later) and they have had very successful films, the most successful was probably 'Love Actually'.

Caleb comes across originally as a clever employee who is a bit ‘geeky’ as he spends his time doing coding. Later on the audience finds out why he decided to do coding and that Caleb wasn’t especially talented in coding but as a matter of fact he was chosen because of his past. In the end you have a mixed amount of feelings on Caleb, you feel sorry for him, angry at him that he listened to the wrong things and you fear for him. Nathan comes across as a very rich and successful man, but it isn’t long until you realize that he is an uncontrollable drunk with too much power. The isolation of his house has caused him to make him become a bit crazy in a way, when he does meet with humans he tries to paly mind games and tricks on them. This is usually the sign that he would’ve had a rough time with other people and doesn’t know how to react anymore with them so he has gone into complete isolation to create AI’s so he can make his friends in a way. He is very money driven but the money seems to be making him have t much power. Throughout the film similar with Caleb you get mixed emotions but by the end you feel sorry for him, as he was right, it was just a test. Ava is the first AI to ever to pass the “Turing test” as she shows emotion and the ability to think for her self. Throughout the film you feel sorry for her but you don’t want to fall in to a trap because at the end of the day she is still an AI. By the end you can Ava has completely betrayed Caleb, that she was just using him and this shows that she has then failed the Turing test as a normal person with a conscience would at least go back but she walked past him as if he wasn’t there. It is quite confusing as you don’t know if she did actually pass the test as she was able to think for herself so she could escape the system, she could just be an evil AI.

The film does raise quite a few moral questions, but it is all pretty much with Nathan. Nathan kept an AI locked up who was thought to have a conscience and passed the Turing test, and instead of letting Ava explore more things on her own and just have a bit of freedom he kept her in the little space. The reason this raises some moral questions is because I you’re trying to make a new human then you should treat it like a human, obviously you would have to always watch her as she is one of the first ever to be made. Also Nathan had only made women AI’s he didn’t have to give them the sexual organs and if he was doing it for certain jobs then he should have made male models too. This makes the audience think that it’s less of an invention for the world but more for himself.

I personal enjoyed the film and I felt for the budget they made a very good film. The special effects were very good, the location was perfect and the acting overall was good.