Things I found Strange in Ex Machina Film
Aug 9, 2020 22:56:24 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Aug 9, 2020 22:56:24 GMT -5
Things I found Strange in Ex Machina Film
Ex Machina Brief Summary
The film is about a computer programmer (Domhnall Gleeson), who is summoned to the secluded home of his millionaire boss (Oscar Isaac),and who agrees to participate in a weeklong project testing the artificial-intelligence program which the boss has installed in a sexy [android](Alicia Vikander). However, unknown to him, the programmer is being used to test the Android. If it uses him as a means to escape, then it will have proven genuine consciousness in consciousness.
Intro
First, please note that if you haven't seen the film, this review contains spoilers. I found the acting excellent and the film itself very thought-provoking and entertaining, despite the things I point out below. The affection that the programmer develops for the exceedingly feminine Android is very believable, as is his reaction to the abusive treatment she receives from her creator. What actually comes as a shock is how I as part of the male audience, was also deceived by what appeared to have been the android's sincerity. In any case, below are the parts I feel need improvement.
Things I found Strange in Ex Machina Film
In the introduction, it isn't clear who sent for the bright computer programmer, what the bright protagonist's job is, or why he was chosen. One moment we see him in an office where he is briefly congratulated by fellow workers over winning something, and the next he is suddenly shown on a helicopter flying above a forest. More time should have been taken in characterization so we could care about what happens to him in the ensuing scenes.The pilot informs the programmer that they had been travelling over the scientist's estate for the previous two hours. Assuming that the chopper had been going at 150 mph at a minimum, that would amount to 450 miles of wilderness being part of his estate. That's four times and a half the length of Puerto Rico. That's a rather unbelievably large estate.
Then there is the matter of opening and closing doors at the scientist's laboratory and bedrooms. Why would the scientist choose to make exiting a room dependent on an unstable power generator that he knew the android could interfere with? If indeed locking those doors totally via cutting off the power was under her control, then she obviously could have kept him locked in his room by causing a power outage. Unable to get out, he would have starved to death.
During the last scene, when the Android Ava escapes, she whispers something to another female android's ear and places a knife in her hands. How is she reprogramming this other android into a murderous mode by verbal suggestions alone?
Then she runs towards the scientist who is armed with a dumbbell bar risking getting her skull shattered. She is not depending on overpowering him, since she was obviously not made with that ability and had to have known it. So her feeble attack doesn't make any sense.
Why does the other android stab the scientist only once in the back instead of several times, and then stupidly stands there waiting for him to retaliate with the iron dumbbell? That's exactly what he does.
Ava finishes killing the scientist and then enters the visiting and infatuated computer programmer guy's room just to inform him that he will remain there? Isn't that inviting suspicion? Why doesn't the computer programmer find Ava's behavior suspicious? After all, he asks her what has happened, and she tells him to stay there instead of responding to his question. She shows absolutely no happiness in seeing him. Expresses no gratitude for his help in getting out and walks away What is he waiting for? Why doesn't he leave the room and see what has happened for himself? Instead, he remains there waiting. For what?
Meanwhile, Ava is shown slowly and calmly removing artificial skin off an inactivated android who has bodily proportions entirely different from hers and perfectly fitting it to her body. Providing and android with similar proportions would have made the scene believable. Instead, we expect the parts not to fit and are surprised when they magically do.
Then there is her departure from the residency. The transport helicopter pilot picks up Ava up without any objections when the passenger was supposed to have been the fellow he had left there two days before. That should have raised serious questions. After all, Ava had no ID nor had the pilot been informed about any change of plans. So why does he allow her onboard?
Also, if Ava's power is dependent on the generator at that location, how was to maintain herself sufficiently powered once she left? It's a two-hour trip just to get off the estate.