It’s eerie watching Ex Machina in the 2020s. Science fiction has always had a knack for predicting the future, usually for the worse, and Alex Garland’s cynical directorial debut is about as dark as they come. When Oscar Isaac’s crude tech billionaire, Nathan Bateman, muses about the inevitability of AI, it no longer feels like an empty prophecy, a problem for our kids to worry about. When Caleb Smith (Domnhall Gleeson), the programmer sent to test his most advanced AI yet, ends up falling in love with it, it’s harder to feel sympathy.
A story that once was far-fetched and fantastical is practically our reality. Artificial intelligence has society in a chokehold: a handful of Nathans are now actively running the world, while thousands of Calebs are falling right into their trap. What’s more, the trap isn’t nearly so enticing as the one that Garland conceives. Ex Machina, at least, has Ava (Alicia Vikander), a beautiful android who’s far smarter than she seems.
