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Review: Ex Machina - Stop Calling It A "Smart" Film

Did this movie follow the sci-fi blueprint a little too closely. Introduce some people who will speak in a foreign tongue about technology, then add the technology to the equation. Have a debate about whether or not the human is leading the computer or vice-versa. Then have the human show compassion and empathy when he/she is tricked into thinking the computer has shown those emotions. Show graphic nudity of women who fit society's view of perfect, then end with the computers turning on the humans and proving that we may just outsmart ourselves. This has been beaten to death, almost as much as zombie movies.

I think the biggest problem I had with this picture, other than Oscar Isaac's always mediocre acting abilities, is that a movie I saw two weeks ago, The Machine was much better. Not only that, but being that it was made two years ago, I can't believe aspects weren't ripped directly off. Down the robots name. I also have an immense gripe with all sci-fi movies and that is, they aren't nearly as complex as they think they are. If you ignore the code lingo, AI keywords and don't get hung up on the beautiful girl (you'll get it, if you've seen this), you'll see they're all very simplistic. This one, is not only simple, it's almost dumb. I don't know how carefully people watched, but there is a major plot hole from the very first moment and the red herrings are everywhere. This film has a fatal flaw, that is becoming all too common in movies. Any knowledge of name meanings, will tell you everything you need to know and what each character's result will be. Even worse, is when the movie's title is a reveal of the ending, in this case, literally and figuratively.

The only positive thing I can say about this (and yes, I know I'm beating this drum to death), but I know just the types of people who will like this. People who are easily persuaded by people they view as authoritative, people who read or hear positive reviews from people they admire, then see the movie in that exact same light and people who are told it's a smart movie and can't wait to tell people who already think they are bright, that it's a good movie. Aside from those types, I can't see an intelligent person coming out of this, not at least somewhat let down by the obvious course, the silly script, the all to obvious symbolism and the dulling pace.

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