Ex Machina (2015)

EX MACHINA  (2015)  ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
    D: Alex Garland
    Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, 
    Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno
A zillionaire scientist living in isolation on an estate the size of Norway (where the movie was filmed) believes he's perfected artificial intelligence in an android named Ava. To find out for sure, he sends for a smart young coding specialist to run a series of tests. As the tests become more complex, so do the mind games. This is where "Frankenstein" meets "Blade Runner" meets Stanley Kubrick - an elegant bit of sic-fi, brilliantly imagined and beautifully designed and shot. Oscar Isaac plays the scientist, the kind of intellectual asshole you'd probably change schools to avoid dealing with. Domhnall Gleeson plays the coder, an impressionable geek who can just about match the scientist intellectually, a quick study, but impulsive and emotionally vulnerable. Alicia Vikander plays the android, whose sense of identity and potential is still evolving. She's hard to read, and that's the point. It's science fiction for the mind, not for things that blow up real good. It's suspenseful and provocative and disturbing and cold, and it'll command your attention for all of its 108 minutes, but only if you're willing to think.