(SPOILER WARNING!!! This article does contain spoilers, if you haven’t seen the movie, just see the first paragraph to be informed without spoilers!!!)

Ex Machina is an interesting movie about artificial intelligence that leans on the creepy and weird side, however for a movie that deals with A.I., it is redundant, but it is a decent watch.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Movies about artificial intelligence has to be the most overused angle when it comes to sci-fy movies. Quite honestly it is almost all the same that if it they come with another type a movie, it has to take a lot to peak my interest to watch it. I find them as the same old cliched story about scientists trying to create a robot that actually feels like a human, and something bad happens that implodes and ask the question, is A.I. a great idea. Even the good ones you see a correlation of the usual things. Movies like A.I., Bicentennial Man, I Robot, Chappie, and many others. They may approach with a different angle, but it is all the same. Luckily for the movie Ex Machina they’re lack of marketing actually drew me in. April of this year, there hasn’t been much good movies after Furious 7, and when I was reading reviews for the less “commercial” movies and saw that this movie had great reviews. Nothing excites me more than watching a movie where I don’t know what it’s about. Especially with a cast that are not famous, yet. So I go watch it, and be entertained. That’s how I approached this movie, and enjoyed my experience of the unknown watching. (Try it one of these days, it can be liberating.)

What I Like: The biggest thing I really loved in this movie was the filming and cinematography. Director Alex Garland really brings the set to life. I did my research, and found out that this movie was filmed at a hotel in Norway. The set for this movie really intrigued to go to Norway and stay a night or two at this hotel. The combination of snow mountains, waterfalls, forest, and rivers look very peaceful and relaxing. The technology and design of the inside of the house (or hotel in real life) looks cool and awesome. The acting in this movie is on point. You have Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb Smith. A computer technician for a internet search engine company called “Bluebook,”  and was selected to meet the owner of the company in his estate for a week. He meets the owner named Nathan Bateman, played by Oscar Isaac (who has definitely hit the gym, probably to get ready to become Apocalypse in the next X-men movie) and wanted Caleb to take part of The Turing Test. He would talk to one of his A.I. robots and will make the decision if the robot is similar to a regular human. The A.I. robot is named Ava, played by Alicia Vikander, and was played very well. At the beginning you see her as a robot, seeing all the mechanics inside of her, but later on she becomes more human by putting on clothes and more emotion with her talks with Caleb. What I like is that the movie takes on a creepy and weird tone. The tone of this, is like this is not your typical movie, and you’re curious in what is going to happen, and the creepiness makes you believe something bad will happen, but really nothing does. Isaac as Nathan you suspect he is up to no good, and his awkward tensions with Caleb as the movie progresses. He may be a genius, but a creepy genius which bode well for the movie.

The So So: There were twists in this movies that really make be like wow, but really didn’t affect the real outcome of this movie. For example, when Caleb tried to help Ava escape, and how Nathan tried to one up him knowing that Caleb would do such a thing before he brought him into his home. However, Caleb one up him before by getting him drunk the day before and stealing his key card to mess with his security system. So it was a battle of who is smarter, but for Caleb why would you fall in love with a robot. I get that he is lonely, but she is a freaking machine, no matter how human she can be. I didn’t see the point other than the sake of the story. In the end, Ava the robot screwed both of them, even killing Nathan and using Caleb for her to be free in the world.

What I Didn’t Like: The story about A.I. is the same typical movie about making a robot think as a human, and it screws them over in the end. We’ve seen it many times in past movies about the same subject. I believe there can’t be made nothing new, and if I was a film maker, why bother doing a movie on that subject that can’t be made unique. Also one scene that really bothered me is when Ava broke free and meets with the helicopter pilot to go to the city. When a pilot that follows rules, and finds a women and not the guy he was suppose to pick up. Yet, he still takes her? If I was the pilot, I would find something wrong, and just fly away. Kind of dumb and lazy writing if you ask me to end the movie.

Overall: The movie was interesting enough to keep me engaged. Also, the creepiness kind of gives you the chills. (The music helps with that.) However, it is unoriginal in their subject area, and to me that’s what didn’t make this a great film. With that said, a good watch nonetheless.

Rating: 3.5 Stars