Ex Machina review
Jan. 27th, 2015 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alobearEmpire said of Ex Machina: "There are some big ideas housed in these closing walls."
Also: "Ex Machina is old-fashioned, grown-up science-fiction."
Summary: "Stylish, elegant, tense, cerebral, satirical and creepy."
This, together with lareinemisere's warning of potential unpleasantness, had me going into the cinema rather apprehensive and certainly not knowing what to expect.
Apropos to part of the plot, I realised afterwards that I had changed my behaviour because I knew I was being watched (or rather my reaction to the film was different to what it would have been otherwise because I had additional information going in and knew someone was particularly interested in this review).
If I hadn't been warned that I might find it unpleasant, I think I would have found it much more so. As it was, I didn't feel the need to look away at any point.
Unfortunately, the film didn't really live up to the expectations raised by Empire's review - I think there could have been a lot of "big ideas" explored, but I felt it devolved into cheap thriller tactics towards the end rather than really digging into the issues. Stylish, tense (hugely so - the music/sound effects really ratcheted up the tension very effectively, but in a way that annoyed me) and creepy - certainly. Not as cerebral as I had hoped, though.
Empire also described the character of Ava as "surprisingly feminist" - really? I'm never sure on this issue - I find it very difficult to judge the film in this context because I don't see how wanting to be free should be a specifically gender issue. Yes, Ava is very definitely female, and yes, she destroys her oppressor, but she is also callous, manipulative, and I would say unnecessarily violent, as well as dooming someone who was wholly on her side. Does that make her a feminist icon? I wouldn't have said so...
Also: "Ex Machina is old-fashioned, grown-up science-fiction."
Summary: "Stylish, elegant, tense, cerebral, satirical and creepy."
This, together with lareinemisere's warning of potential unpleasantness, had me going into the cinema rather apprehensive and certainly not knowing what to expect.
Apropos to part of the plot, I realised afterwards that I had changed my behaviour because I knew I was being watched (or rather my reaction to the film was different to what it would have been otherwise because I had additional information going in and knew someone was particularly interested in this review).
If I hadn't been warned that I might find it unpleasant, I think I would have found it much more so. As it was, I didn't feel the need to look away at any point.
Unfortunately, the film didn't really live up to the expectations raised by Empire's review - I think there could have been a lot of "big ideas" explored, but I felt it devolved into cheap thriller tactics towards the end rather than really digging into the issues. Stylish, tense (hugely so - the music/sound effects really ratcheted up the tension very effectively, but in a way that annoyed me) and creepy - certainly. Not as cerebral as I had hoped, though.
Empire also described the character of Ava as "surprisingly feminist" - really? I'm never sure on this issue - I find it very difficult to judge the film in this context because I don't see how wanting to be free should be a specifically gender issue. Yes, Ava is very definitely female, and yes, she destroys her oppressor, but she is also callous, manipulative, and I would say unnecessarily violent, as well as dooming someone who was wholly on her side. Does that make her a feminist icon? I wouldn't have said so...
