Artificial intelligence is perennially in the news at the moment, isn't it? The threat of it becoming sentient is very topical, so imagine giving it a face, locking it underground, and asking a lonely programmer to determine whether it can manipulate him. It feels like actively tempting fate. Add in an eccentric tech billionaire, and you've either got what's happening at OpenAI, or the most eerie sci-fi of the 2010s.
Ex Machina, the directorial debut from acclaimed screenwriter Alex Garland, is officially free to stream this month via the Roku Channel, bringing one of the 21st century’s best sci-fi thrillers back within very easy reach. Caleb Smith, a programmer at a huge Internet company, wins a contest that enables him to spend a week at the private estate of Nathan Bateman, his firm’s brilliant CEO. When he arrives, Caleb learns that he has been chosen to be the human component in a Turing test to determine the capabilities and consciousness of Ava, a beautiful robot. However, it soon becomes evident that Ava is far more self-aware and deceptive than either man imagined.
The cast is deliberately tiny, with Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) joined by Oscar Isaac (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) as Nathan, Alicia Vikander (Tomb Raider) as Ava, and Sonoya Mizuno (House of the Dragon) as Kyoko. Corey Johnson (The Mummy) also appears as Jay, while Claire Selby, Gana Bayarsaikhan, and Tiffany Pisani round out the ensemble.
How Good Is 'Ex Machina'?
Pretty bloody good. Ex Machina currently holds a superb 92% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes from 290 reviews, alongside an 86% audience score from more than 50,000 ratings. This was Garland’s directorial debut after writing movies including 28 Days Later and Sunshine, and he keeps almost everything claustrophobically small. It also managed to point out those amongst us who don't know their Latin, with an alarming number of moviegoers asking to see "Ex Mashina." Tut, tut.
Vikander won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress that year for The Danish Girl, but Ex Machina earned an Oscar of its own for Best Visual Effects, beating substantially bigger movies including Mad Max: Fury Road, The Martian, The Revenant, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Ex Machina is available to stream for free with ads via The Roku Channel in the United States.
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