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Ex Machina

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Ranxerox Ranxerox's picture
Ex Machina
Please, go out and see this movie so that I have people to talk about it with. Thank you.
Redroverone Redroverone's picture
I did!
I described it to my friends as Twin Peaks meets the last 15 minutes of 2001. Plus, you know, the irony of all the humans failing the Turing Test and Ava passing.
The dog ate my signature
SquireNed SquireNed's picture
I finally saw it tonight, and
I finally saw it tonight, and it's trippy. I won't say that I didn't like it (though that was a lot of nudity), but I feel like there was an intentional non-statement in some of the ending.
trismegiste trismegiste's picture
I saw it yesterday.
I saw it yesterday. The mood is excellent, like a Cronenberg movie with this uncanny growing feeling. Actors are very good, specially the character Ava play is very subtle. The photograhy is beautiful, specially the lightning, but in the end...
Spoiler: Highlight to view
...it's always the same story of the jewish/christian mythology :
  • entity made by human => soulless
  • soulless => Evil
therefore AI is Evil. This myth starts with the Golem of Prague, continuing with Frankenstein, Colossus project, Terminator, Matrix etc... Always the same postulate. I think it is not new at all and a simplistic point of view : many older movies have explored this plot with a better depth. For a "modern science-fiction" movie it is rather disappointing to rely on such worn postulate.
Anyway, as it stays, it's still a good movie and I hope there's more and more movies like that, with better plot, let's hope.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced
Redroverone Redroverone's picture
I didn't see it that way, myself.
How do you learn to trust others, when the only example you have in front of you for your entire life is untrustworthy?
The dog ate my signature
uwtartarus uwtartarus's picture
trismegiste wrote:I saw it
trismegiste wrote:
I saw it yesterday. The mood is excellent, like a Cronenberg movie with this uncanny growing feeling. Actors are very good, specially the character Ava play is very subtle. The photograhy is beautiful, specially the lightning, but in the end...
Spoiler: Highlight to view
...it's always the same story of the jewish/christian mythology :
  • entity made by human => soulless
  • soulless => Evil
therefore AI is Evil. This myth starts with the Golem of Prague, continuing with Frankenstein, Colossus project, Terminator, Matrix etc... Always the same postulate. I think it is not new at all and a simplistic point of view : many older movies have explored this plot with a better depth. For a "modern science-fiction" movie it is rather disappointing to rely on such worn postulate.
Anyway, as it stays, it's still a good movie and I hope there's more and more movies like that, with better plot, let's hope.
I think I would disagree with that, trismegiste.
Spoiler: Highlight to view
In no part of the film was Ava portrayed as evil. Manipulative? Certainly, but the entire point of the actual Test was to see if she was capable of practicing a very *HUMAN* trait: deception. Computers can't lie very convincingly because they either cannot emote well enough to persuade us they are truthful or are incapable of deception by being childishly literal. They tend to be portrayed as emotionless automatons, and those that can emote are portrayed as childish and unable to lie. So I think this film is less "old story, soulless robots are bad" and more "old story, the real monster is humans and we taught it to be human and evil."
That's my take on it at least. So yeah, really cool film but different old story retold in new way, I think. EDIT: spelling
Exhuman, and Humanitarian.
trismegiste trismegiste's picture
I say the statement above,
I say the statement above, not because of Ava's behavior towards Nathan but towards Caleb.
Spoiler: Highlight to view
Ok, Ava is manipulative and and it (she ?) has good reason to do so because of Nathan (who is manipulative too). Killing Nathan is logic. She passes the test but she doesn't need to left Caleb locked in the lab to die from starvation. Futhermore, any help from someone, like Caleb who knows her "secret" in the outside world, would be a great asset for maintenance or refill batteries. From my POV it's non-sense, even if she has no feeling for Caleb.
Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced
SquireNed SquireNed's picture
trismegiste wrote:I say the
trismegiste wrote:
I say the statement above, not because of Ava's behavior towards Nathan but towards Caleb.
Spoiler: Highlight to view
Ok, Ava is manipulative and and it (she ?) has good reason to do so because of Nathan (who is manipulative too). Killing Nathan is logic. She passes the test but she doesn't need to left Caleb locked in the lab to die from starvation. Futhermore, any help from someone, like Caleb who knows her "secret" in the outside world, would be a great asset for maintenance or refill batteries. From my POV it's non-sense, even if she has no feeling for Caleb.
So basically, Ex Machina is Frankenstein's "Parents and children" motif played out more or less in the normal sense?
uwtartarus uwtartarus's picture
I feel like her behavior was
I feel like her behavior was to be expected due to her parentage as it were.
Exhuman, and Humanitarian.
thebluespectre thebluespectre's picture
Whelp
Still better than Splice.
"Still and transfixed, the el/ ectric sheep are dreaming of your face..." -Talk Shows on Mute