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Movie review: 'Ex Machina' is the droid you're looking for Comment By Christopher Lawrence The Las Vegas Review-Journal MailTribune.com By Christopher Lawrence The Las Vegas Review-Journal Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM By Christopher Lawrence The Las Vegas Review-Journal Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News Come for the sci-fi. Stay for the humanity. With “Ex Machina,” writer-director Alex Garland (“28 Days Later”) has crafted an intimate, wondrous, unsettling look at artificial intelligence. It brings to mind everything from “Jurassic Park” to “Pinocchio” while transcending the usual genre trappings. But for all the in-your-face technical wizardry that went into creating Ava (Alicia Vikander), the robot progeny of tech billionaire Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), it’s the smallest details that prove to be the most interesting. The reclusive Nathan flies Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), one of his top programmers, to his lush mountain estate for a weeklong Turing Test. As highlighted in “The Imitation Game,” Alan Turing’s methodology aims to determine whether a machine can exhibit enough intelligence to fool someone into thinking it’s human. So Caleb spends his days making small talk with Ava and asking her questions through a glass partition like scenes from an awkward first date. She draws pictures for him, flirts and, because Caleb and Nathan are the only humans she’s ever met, longs for nothing more than to visit a traffic intersection so she can watch a variety of people going about their days. Soon, Ava uses Caleb’s microexpressions to intuit that he’s attracted to her, even though the only parts of her that look human are her face, ears, hands and feet. She’s been given a wire mesh crop top and booty shorts but everything else is translucent, leaving her wiring exposed. During one of their interview sessions, Ava excuses herself to put on a dress, a sweater, leggings and a wig to make herself appear more girlish. There’s a shyness and an awkwardness to the way she reveals herself to Caleb, much like Ally Sheedy’s Allison after her “Breakfast Club” makeover, that’s equal parts inspiring and heartbreaking. It’s also more human than most actions you’ll see on a movie screen. “Ex Machina” reels you in much the same way as Ava seduces Caleb. It’s a teasingly slow build — part love story, part science experiment — that makes a few of the movie’s twists seem even more surprising. As Nathan, the eccentric genius forever monitoring his creation via surveillance cameras, Isaac (“Inside Llewyn Davis,” “A Most Violent Year”) continues to cement his status as one of cinema’s most versatile and exciting new talents. Vikander (“The Fifth Estate”), meanwhile, instills Ava with an inherent sweetness and curiosity that proves, much like Scarlett Johansson’s voice performance in “Her,” that love doesn’t always have to make sense. And it certainly isn’t solely the domain of humans. “EX MACHINA,” rated R for graphic nudity, profanity, sexual references and some violence. Grade: B. By Christopher Lawrence The Las Vegas Review-Journal MailTribune.com By Christopher Lawrence The Las Vegas Review-Journal Posted Apr. 24, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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