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Apr 09, 2015 By Chris Tinkham Web Exclusive

First-time director Alex Garland, known for his associations with Danny Boyle as author of The Beach and screenwriter for 28 Days Later and Sunshine, has crafted a thrilling work of sci-fi with Ex Machina, a smart and visually alluring film that contemplates chilling questions about where technology is headed and the consequences of playing God.

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a mildmannered coder at Blue Book, the world's dominant Internet search engine, wins a contest to spend a week with the company's reclusive billionaire founder and CEO, Nathan (Oscar Isaac), at his remote home/compound in Alaska. Nathan's ulterior motive is to introduce Caleb to Ava (Alicia Vikander), a robot that he's designed in the lifelike image of a beautiful woman. Caleb is tasked with performing a Turing test on Ava, to see if he can distinguish her artificial intelligence from that of a human, but when her humanity begins to play on his sympathies--Gleeson and Vikander have a captivating and endearing rapport--Caleb starts to question if Nathan has programmed Ava to seduce him, and a psychological power struggle gradually escalates between the three.

Mark Digby's production design compounds the tension--hi-tech Ava has a limited view to the gorgeous natural landscape outside--while Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury's understated score quietly accentuates the film's mysteries.

www.meet-ava.com

Author rating: 8/10