Ex Machina Review
RYAN: I’m freaking out over how great this movie is. It’s so good on so many levels. It’s the first film this year that’s truly Oscar caliber, and early on; I’m talking design, performances, screenplay, even Best Picture nom… there are so many strengths. It’s written and directed by Alex Garland who is a prolific writer. But this is his directorial debut and it’s, like, a Kubrick movie.
CHUCK: It’s Kubrickian. Holy $#*%balls! I’m blown away by the mastery of this movie. Garland has a strong following. He has worked with Danny Boyle twice and is very popular. He has great experience but this movie transcends everything else I’ve seen from him before.
RYAN: He must have written it and been, like, “This one’s so good, I’m directing it myself!” It’s breathtaking. The design, cinematography, everything brings you into the story. I feel like I’m gonna over use adjectives in this review because it’s that good.
CHUCK: It really has a great pace. It’s just sucks you and and takes off immediately. You almost feel claustrophobic.
RYAN: At the beginning, I felt like it was an adult Willy Wonka. We don’t wanna give anything away but there is the sense of “I won a golden ticket” to this. Or the relationship between Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac’s characters is very Jonathan Harker meets Dracula in his castle.
CHUCK: Those are both very astute analogies.
RYAN: They’re both sort of just premise, or set up to this movie, not really giving anything away. Those actors are so brilliant. We see the movie from Domhnall’s perspective.
CHUCK: His career is so impressive. From About Time, to Unbroken, to this and then the new Star Wars coming up where he’ll again costar with Oscar.
RYAN: He was also Bill Weasley in the Harry Potter movies. I usually call out nepotism in Hollywood (He’s the son of Mad-Eye Moody actor Brendan Gleeson), but he’s a wonderful actor on his own.
CHUCK: I never make the connection between him and his dad. Oscar – this is the first time I’ve seen him in a movie.
RYAN: He’s among my favorite actors. I love, love, love him and this is by far, my favorite performance of his. He should get an Oscar nom for this. He has so many moments in this movie. It’s a sci fi, dramatic thriller and many of the thriller moments are courtesy of his performance.
CHUCK: It really blends those genres but there’s also so much social commentary in this movie. It’s the kind of story that has so many implications you just wanna talk about it for a while after seeing it.
RYAN: Totally. It’s very complex. The script is so intelligent.
CHUCK: It makes you think about science but also forces you to look at yourself and how you perceive reality.
RYAN: Yes there are moments where you are questioning what you see and what’s real in this movie. It puts you on edge. There are some twists.
CHUCK: And some gasps.
RYAN: It’s so good that it also puts you on a high.
CHUCK: There is an adrenaline rush but it’s also really unnerving.
RYAN: Completely unnerving.
CHUCK: And the girl – Ava – played by Alicia Vikander. She plays AI so well. The way she moves, her voice, everything.
RYAN: I feel like this movie could make her the next Hollywood “it girl.” And hers and Domhnall’s Amer’accents were phenomenal.
CHUCK: I love the title which is from Deus Ex Machina and all the deep implications about what it means, just removing Deus from it. It really is so smart, but it’s not highbrow to the point that will alienate some audiences.
RYAN: I agree. It’s not confusing. It’s complex but straightforward. You can deconstruct it and get deep if you want to but you can also just enjoy it at face value. The design and the effects are so brilliant. You don’t question the authenticity of what you’re seeing for even one second. You fully believe she is a robot.
CHUCK: The locations were beautiful and all so much of the storytelling.
RYAN: I’m behind this movie. I really love it. I wanna see it again, to really appreciate even more some of the nuances and things you might miss the first time.
Nathan April 24, 2015
Hot dam!!!