Ex Machina - Review
I had the very lucky chance to get out to a theater recently and see what was playing. At first there wasn’t anything good playing at all, or I had already seen everything, and Avengers still wasn’t out. Fortunately I had the great pleasure of seeing Ex Machina.
At first I didn’t know what to expect, at first glance it felt like a movie that was going to be really good, but very slow for most parts. This was not the case at all. This film does an excellent job at pacing itself, beginning to end. Nothing ever feels too slow or too fast, even with a lack of action set pieces (of which there are next to none, there is one that I can think of).
One of the most impressive parts of this movie is how human every single character felt (yes even Ava). There were so many moments when I really wanted to like a character, or I could feel the amount of tension in a room when the director (Alex Garland) wanted us to. There were plenty of times when I couldn’t help but think how cute some of the scenes were which helped me understand the kind of connection Ava and Caleb had; it was really quite an experience.
Going back to pacing; when things started to get into the thriller genre, you could really feel the excitement. Learning all these things about what’s been going on, what’s going to happen for the future, whether what we think is happening is actually happening. It really keeps you guessing whether or not Oscar Issac’s character is as evil as the film wants us to believe, even when there is a huge amount of evidence against him. This is because his character is written so well and he feels like such a cool dude, you don’t want him to be evil.
The only real downside I had with this film is the last two minutes or so. When you see it you’ll know what I mean, but basically they could have ended it sooner and have given us a kind of, “what happens now?” kind of reaction. Unfortunately they didn’t, and it doesn’t take too much away from the experience anyway, but it is a little disappointing.
All-in-all, Ex Machina starring Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Issac is an amazing film. Great characters, great pacing and amazing writing, go out and see it as soon as possible.