Tevun-Krus #19 - Singularity

Ex-Machina: A Short and Deep Review by @SophiaLaney101

Now I must say that there might be bits of spoilers in this article so beware upon reading this.

So one weekend, I decided to watch a movie about singularity called Ex-Machina. Now this is the movie starring the beautiful and mystical Alicia Vikander and Oscar Isaac. The movie is about a beyond rich man, hiring a young brilliantly smart man into his home to test an AI the millionaire has created. The man played by Oscar Isaac plans to show this new technology to the world. But not all is what it seems. Now I must address the audience of the bad reputation that this movie had gotten because of the publicity stunt. And despite, the accusations of some really strange publicity agents creating Tinder accounts using the actress's face in order to lure men into talking to this fake account and then sending them a link to the movie's website, This movie is really good. I think that was extremely creepy to actually stalk people's profiles just to promote the movie but in a way I can see why they did it. Maybe a method to the madness. This is something (a theory of mine) But could the talking and stalking men on tinder hint at Ava's other personality, the trait of manipulation as we later find out in the movie? But anyway I doubt they thought that hard about their advertising. Maybe they used social media in a bad way.

I must warn you that this movie does not have any action or adventure or any (persistent) kicking ass to save the world type of thing. Instead, they use dialogue to better understand the situation and complexities of Singularity. Can AI be humans? Can they actually have feelings? Can they feel pain? etc type of questions.

I have to admit that there just isn't enough cons for me. The con I will point out is that I wish they had explored more of Ava because I feel she is such a dynamic character, very complex, and very intelligent. The Ending. The drunk millionaire Character: are all the cons for me.

Pros: Ava is so intelligent, beyond her own programing. The Ending. The Drunk Millionaire Character. The young computer genius.

The Millionaire character is both a pro and a con in a sense that he is the driving force of the conflict within the movie. He is the villain and Ava and the young smart guy is the heros. What makes him a villain is his views and his ideas on how to use Ava and the rest of the AIs. He is creepy and seems out of touch to humanity. But he does something that most movies do not do with AIs and you have to see what I am talking about to understand this different thing he does. And so this is why I consider him to be a pro and a con. Con: He's very creepy. Pro: He's very creepy. He has so many flaws, so much so he's creepy, well at least to me. He is an alcoholic.

Now, let me explain why I chose the genius as a pro. So here we have a young naive man who was chosen to work for this multi-millionaire at his home in a secluded part of a forest. He only works there for a few days (I think it was a week) and then he goes. It's an experience of a life time. The actor plays this character very well. The naivete is something that both the millionaire and the AI use to their advantage. His naivete is his downfall and is his weakness. But ultimately he has to make a decision: who to trust?

The ending was actually unexpected yet expected because of the scriptwriters' choice to add one fine little detail that made everything questionable. Now, should they have added it a bit early on would have defeated the whole purpose of the situation but still I would have wanted to question whether Ava was authentic and honest with the genius or not. So that's why I consider it a pro and a con.

So now, I will give it a number out of 10. 8/10. It is slow paced and you have to keep with it (meaning don't fall asleep on it) in order to understand what is going on. They do use a lot of dialogue but it is good. The movie is long but enjoyable. The actors are good and Alicia depicts that mass curiosity that seems to be in all AIs. But if you do not like movies that relies on body and facial expressions and dialogue, this I will not recommend this movie for you. But if you can deal with that, I highly recommend this film. So watch it! You will like it too.

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