Movie Review: Ex Machina
A few weeks back I made a quick post about Ex Machina, a sci-fi film written and directed by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine, Dredd), declaring my interest after seeing the trailer. It’s still in limited release here in the United States, but tonight I got the lucky chance to see a free screening here in downtown Seattle attended by Garland himself.
After a young programmer named Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) wins a company lottery to spend a week at the secluded home of CEO and tech genius billionaire Nathan (Oscar Isaac), Nathan asks him to spend that week performing the Turing Test on the android Ava (Alicia Vikander) to determine whether she possesses true artificial intelligence. Isolated with a technological marvel and an intimidating eccentric monitoring his every moment, Caleb’s Turing Test swiftly enters uncomfortable territory.
Ex Machina is an excellent, thought-provoking, science fiction film that intrigues its audience as much with its atmosphere as with its ideas. From the beginning, through both the secluded setting and the subtle, unsettling undertones of Isaac’s portrayal of Nathan, an undercurrent of creepiness pervades the film. Nathan’s home is more research laboratory than a house. Keycards control access. Doors lock during intermittent, unexplained power outages. Caleb is not allowed access to the outside world due to the sensitive nature of Nathan’s work. Yet the film keeps the viewer off-balance with occasional–and well-placed–bouts of humor that both a) keep the tone from feeling so single-minded as to be tiring and b) accentuate the creepiness for the contrast.
Which isn’t to say that Nathan and his home aren’t the only sources of creepiness here. Vikander plays Ava with a charming, innocent seductiveness that draws Caleb and the viewer closer to her despite the unease of knowing that he’s interacting with…what? A machine pretending at being sentient, or an actual consciousness? And if the latter, then just what does that mean?
Ex Machina kept me guessing. Most of the time, I didn’t quite know where the film would wind up. It doesn’t telegraph its ending, and as the details of every step along the way unfolded themselves, rarely was it ever what I expected (save for once–and that’s not to say that’s a bad thing, either). It’s a bit of a mind-screw in a number of ways, which I won’t spoil here.
Furthermore, the film avoids clichés that one often finds in stories dealing with androids, A.I.s, and humans. It also avoids telling the viewer exactly what to think about what occurs, but rather presents itself and lets us decide what to think about it all. In fact, in a Q&A after the film ended, when asked what message he wanted audiences to take away from this film, Alex Garland responded that his goal was not to give a specific message but to start conversations, as the subjective nature of experiencing it could lead to many different points of view.
So here’s your tl;dr: Ex Machina is a thought-provoking, eerie, mind-game of a science fiction movie, and you should go see it because I said so.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
The Deus Ex franchise is back!
Or, at least, it’s coming back. Eidos-Montreal has made it official with the first game trailer (scroll down to view it), and a GameInformer exclusive: Get ready for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
I honestly didn’t think we’d be getting another game in this series. Foolish me didn’t think there was room for more to go between the ending(s) of Adam Jensen’s story in Deus Ex: Human Revolution and the story of J.C. Denton in the original, but I underestimated the influence of an interested market and the lure of additional gamer-dollars.
This is not a complaint! The original Deus Ex is one of my favorite games of all time, and Human Revolution gave us a prequel that updated the series (and gameplay) for the current generation. (We won’t speak of DX: Invisible War, the New Coke of the series.) Human Revolution didn’t quite capture the greatness of the original, yet it was still a (mostly) excellent game despite its flaws, and worth the long wait. I’m excited to see what they’ve got for Mankind Divided.
Reportedly, Mankind Divided (I’m not crazy about that name, but oh well) takes place two years following the events of Human Revolution, with the canon ending apparently being one where everyone augmented went violent and berserk. Jensen is now with an organization linked with Interpol, apparently dealing with cyborg terrorists. Will we see some of the events alluded to in Deus Ex? (Will the Statue of Liberty get its head blown off? Will UNATCO be formed? Will Bob Page return?
I guess we’ll find out. Eidos has apparently stated that they’ve learned from HR’s mistakes, especially with regard to boss fights. (Why they ever thought farming them out to another studio completely unrelated to the rest of the game was a good idea, perhaps we’ll never really know.) I’ll be waiting for this one, folks. Have a look at the trailer:
Geez, another upcoming game I need to play? I’m going to need more free time.
Guest Geeks: Tammy Thomas and the Ninth Doctor
After a Norwescon-induced hiatus, the Guest Geeks feature is back! This time up, my guest is sci-fi/fantasy geek Tammy Thomas. Now, I’ve always found David Tennant to be my own personal favorite Doctor, but I have to admit that Tammy has got the best and most touching argument I’ve ever heard for why the ninth Doctor is the best doctor. Take it away, Tammy!
Guest Geeks: Tiffany Pitts Gives Us Xenomorph Cupcakes
It’s Wednesday again, and time again for another Guest Geek post! I’ve got something a bit different for you this week. It’s a combination of something geeky, disgusting, and delicious, courtesy of fellow geek and author Tiffany Pitts. (Check out her book at the end for some humor-laced sci-fi. Also a cat!) She also happens to be an artist when it comes to baking, and I mean that “disgusting” in the previous sentence in a very positive way. But enough of my yammering. I’ll hand things over to her. Get ready for…
Farscape Rewatch: “Season of Death”
Season 3, Episode 1:
“Season of Death”
****3/4 out of *****
“We’re going to bring him out here, and see how HE likes the cold!”
“What if he likes it?”
“…ONE! PROBLEM! AT A TIME!!”
Michael Reads Percy Jackson: The Titan’s Curse – Starting Point
Having finished The Sea of Monsters, and gathering my thoughts to say at least a little about what I thought of the book as a whole, I’m realizing that reading only about a chapter a week makes it a little harder to keep track of my feelings about the book, or even the book itself. In my memory, it’s been spread across a longer period of time than my experience of reading The Lightning Thief was. [Read more…]
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