Ex-Machina (2015)

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nEx-Machina (2015)

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nDirector: Alex Garland

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nCast: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Alicia Vikander, SonoyanMizuno    

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nScreenwriters are the firsts to bring a film to life, in theirnminds they see the story unfold in a certain way, down the road of a films production, it’s their words and ideas that becomenthe blueprint of a film. Which is why it doesn’t surprise me that some writers feel thenurge to sit on the director’s chair and film their story themselves. Thenproblem with this is that sometimes, while a writer might be great at coming upnwith stories and dialog, they don’t understand the mechanics of properly translatingntheir words into an entertaining and visually interesting film. For example, whennDavid S. Goyer, the screenwriter behind such heavy weight Hollywood blockbustersnlike The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman:nDawn of Justice (2016) decided to sit on the director’s chair, he ended upnmaking horrible stinkers like Blade Trinity (2004) and The Unborn (2009). Anotherngood example would be Frank Miller, a good writer that ended up directing ThenSpirit (2008), one of the worst comic book films ever made. This is whynwhenever a writer wants to direct, I go into the film with a littlentrepidation. In the case of Ex-Machina, we’re talking about Alex Garland, anwriter who frequently collaborates with renowned director Danny Boyle. Garland wrotenThe Beach (2000), 28 Days Later (2002) and Sunshine (2007), all directed by Boyle.nHe recently wrote Dredd (2012), a good Judge Dredd film that needed to be justna little more epic in order to succeed. So in my book Garland has a prettynsolid slate as a writer. In Ex-Machina Garland both writes and directs, did henpull off this double punch successfully?

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nSince this film comes to us from a true blue writer, and angood one, we should expect a film that’s brainier than your usual film. Why?nWell, this isn’t Garland writing a film for someone else, this is Garlandnwriting and directing a film that plays with themes that he finds interesting. Andnthey are pretty heavy themes, Ex-Machina as the title suggests, is a verynexistential film. The title ‘Ex-Machina’ is an allusion to the term ‘DeusnEx-Machina’ a term used in Greek theater for whenever there was a problem too bignto be resolved by the protagonists. Whenever this happened, they would lower angod onto the stage through the use of machinery, the god would then proceed to magicallynsolve the problems the main characters were suffering from. The term literallynmeans God is a Machine. The term is used even today in both theater and filmsnto refer to a miracle solution for a any given problem in a story. In Ex-Machinanthe problem is AVA, the first android to ever be created. AVA has extremelynadvanced artificial intelligence which allows her to talk and think like anhuman, she can even make her own choices. AVA’s creator, Nathan, wants to test hernin order to evaluate her human capabilities. In order to do this Nathan handnpicks one of his own employees, a young computer programmer named Caleb. WillnAVA pass Caleb’s evaluation?

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nThis is a simple premise for a film with deep themes.nGarland has always explored deep themes in his films, one example would benSunshine (2007), a science fiction film that manages to turn into annexploration of human behavior, religion and how it can twist the human mind. Thatnmovie was basically about science vs. religion. So it didn’t surprise whennEx-Machina suddenly started tackling heady themes.  It starts out right away by giving the role ofnGod to Nathan, AVA’s creator. By all intents and purposes a rightful title becausenafter all, Nathan is the creator of artificial life, the father of a sentientnbeing that is alive and capable of making its own choices. So in many ways,nthis film is a mirror of us and of whoever made us of God, or our parents, whonare the closest thing to god in our lives, they brought us here, they gave usnlife. Why do some parents aim to over control their offspring even when they’venreached a point in their lives when they are fully capable of making their ownnchoices in life? Why is society constantly trying to control our lives with restrictionsnand commandments? So the film very boldly asks the question, do we really have whatnis commonly referred to in the bible as ‘free will’? Or is every aspect of ournlives being regulated, controlled, judged and observed?

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nBut it goes deeper than that. It also explores modern technologynand that whole idea that we’re all part of some big scale social experimentninvolving the government and the media. It addresses the fact that all phones, televisionsnand computers have computers and microphones that are being used to spy on ournlives. That with said technology “they” can scan our faces and hear our privatenconversations whenever they want to. Ever wonder how facebook tags someone in anpicture before you do? Is  technology beingnused against us to pry on our private lives and somehow judge our behavior?nWhat if our behavior isn’t acceptable to those watching? This is a theme that’snbeen explored a lot in films lately, the idea that an elite part of societynwants to wipe all those deemed inadequate out of existence. Recently this was anplot device used in films like Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) and Kingsman:The Secret Service (2015), which by the way also explores the potential evilsnof cellular phone technology. In Ex-Machina, Nathan is an all seeing allnhearing god. He knows when they talk against him, when they are plottingnagainst him, and is always one step ahead of his “subjects”. For how long cannhe treat AVA and Caleb like rats in a maze before they rebel? And can EVA andnCaleb succeed in their search for freedom? That’s what this film is about, ourncollective search for freedom and happiness; that idea that we all have thenright to live the lives that we want to live. That we don’t want to live undernthe illusion of freedom, what we want is to truly enjoy it, for real. That wenneed to accept that not everyone is the same as us, and that we shouldn’t trynto fit anyone into our personal mold of what a human should be like.

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nThe story that Garland wants to tell here is one that’s bignon themes and ideas, but small in scope. The film has three main characters andntakes place almost entirely in one location, but the ideas it explores are sonbig and the story so thought provoking and interesting that I didn’t care, Inlove movies that dare to ask these types of questions, the kind of themes thatnnot everyone likes to talk about. I certainly felt a strong subversive vibenfrom this film, it’s a film against the powers that be, the powers that chokenand oppress society, sometimes in ways society doesn’t even realize. This isnwhy the film asks the question: “What happens if I don’t pass your test?” Whatnhappens when we don’t fit the mold they want us to fit in? Heavy stuff in deed.nI did notice some influences here and there, for example many science fictionnbuffs will immediately catch the similarities with Ridley Scott’s Blade Runnern(1982) because it has that whole concept of an android being angry with itsncreator because of its possible demise. It has a test to prove if one is a human  or an android, just like the ‘Voight Kampf’ test in Blade Runner. It also plays with the idea of a humannfalling in love with an android and wanting to run away together. There’s evenndoubt if Caleb is an android or not, same thing happens in Blade Runner, we’rennever really sure if Deckard is an android or not. So yeah, what Alex Garland didnwith Ex-Machina was an update on Blade Runner (1982) adding his own themes in forngood measure. All in all, a brainy science fiction film that I urge all thosenwho are philosophically inclined to watch.  I’d say that Garland passed my test, he’sndirected one of my favorite films of the year on his first try. Can he do it again?

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