Ex Machina (2015)

☆ ☆ ☆ 

Ex Machina (2015) – A. Garland

High-concept, near-future sci-fi that I thought I would like more than I did.  Possibly this is due to the fact that I watched it on the tiny screen on an airplane.  However, maybe it was because this genre is starting to feel too pat, too self-satisfied, too ready to use flashes of violence or sexuality to spice things up (or to attract the teenage male viewers).  Ex Machina is being talked about as more “intelligent” than most of its ilk, probably because the plot hinges on the “Turing Test”, the challenge a computer (or robot in this case) must beat in order to be determined to have artificial intelligence. True, you never quite know whether Oscar Isaac, as a computer genius “dude”, is telling the truth (but he probably isn’t) to the young employee he brings in to test his sexy robot -- and this creates some suspense.  But something authentic seems lacking and, in the end, intelligence is scrapped for dimestore psychology and the usual conventions of the thriller. Others liked this better.