Ex Machina (2014)

A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.

Director:

Alex Garland

Writer:

Alex Garland

Stars:

Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac

Won 1 Oscar. Another 72 wins & 161 nominations.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Domhnall Gleeson	...	Caleb
Alicia Vikander	...	Ava
Oscar Isaac	...	Nathan
Sonoya Mizuno	...	Kyoko
Corey Johnson	...	Jay
Claire Selby	...	Lily
Symara A. Templeman	...	Jasmine (as Symara Templeman)
Gana Bayarsaikhan	...	Jade
Tiffany Pisani	...	Katya
Elina Alminas	...	Amber (as Lina Alminas)

Storyline

Caleb, a 26 year old programmer at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.

---

Plot Keywords:

artificial intelligence | turing test | minimal cast | robot human relationship | robot | 

---

Taglines:

There is nothing more human than the will to survive.

---

Genres:

Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for graphic nudity, language, sexual references and some violence

Did You Know?

Trivia

Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac also co-starred in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015) and Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017). In both films they appeared alongside Adam Driver, who co-starred with Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013). Isaac also co-starred with Natalie Portman, who played Lena, in Annihilation (2018), which was the second collaboration between him director Alex Garland. Gleeson starred alongside Alicia Vikander in Anna Karenina (2012). The titular role of Anna Karenina was played by Keira Knightley who played the double to Portman's Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Knightley also appeared in Never Let Me Go (2010), which was written by Garland. Vikander also co-starred with her husband, Michael Fassbender, in The Light Between Oceans (2016). Fassbender shared the screen with Gleeson in Frank (2014), with Isaac in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), with Portman in Song to Song (2017) and Knightley in A Dangerous Method (2011).

---

Goofs

The design of Nathan's security system is extremely unsafe: real secure environments would have battery backups for the key-cards, some doors that fail open for safety, and so on. However it's established very early in the movie that Nathan designed the security system himself, and that Nathan is a paranoid alcoholic who can't conceive of his own fallibility. Of course he designed the security system this way.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Caleb: How long until we get to his estate?
Pilot: [laughs] We've been flying over his estate for the past 2 hours.

---

Crazy Credits

The end credits starts with a single dot in the background which then grows and various patterns emerge from it.

---

Alternate Versions

The alternatively censored cut released in China featured frequent blurs of nudity and, on occasion, violence. One scene towards the end also seemed to be zoomed for no apparent reason.

---

Connections

Featured in Conan: Chris O'Dowd/Alicia Vikander/Best Coast (2015)

---

Soundtracks

Ghostbusters
Words and Music by Ray Parker Jr.
Ray Erskine Publishing Limited
Published by EMI Music Publishing Limited

User Reviews

Robots will take over the world

This is the kind of movie I really enjoy when I think about science fiction. Movies that make you think if we should continue trying to progress even more. Are we not already smart enough with everything we have? With all our daily gadgets that we can't miss for one second. Do we really need artificial intelligence? Because let's face it, once that will be concrete then we won't do a thing by ourselves anymore. We will send our robots to our job, we will chose and model our life partner like we want them to be. The story of Ex Machina might be futuristic but I certainly can imagine it like that in the future. All actors were good in their respective roles. For a movie that is filmed at the same spot all the time you certainly don't get bored for a second. Nice science fiction like there should be more of them.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Instagram

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 April 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ex Machina

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$237,264, 12 April 2015

Gross USA:

$25,442,958

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$36,869,414

Company Credits

Production Co:

A24, Universal Pictures, Film4

Technical Specs

Runtime:

108 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital SDDS Datasat

Color:

Color Black and White (some shots)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1