Metrics
Genre:
Sci-fi, Thriller, Hollywood
Rating:
6.5/10
Audience:
Adults, realistic future sci-fi enthusiasts. There’s some pretty disturbing scenes. They do show some skin, but there’s also a robotic caveat to that.
Rewatch Time:
You wouldn’t really, but it’s 1h45 and mostly idealistic.
Winner:
Ava (Alicia Vikander)
Review
Damn, this was pretty jarring. So basically it’s about Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) who’s selected to go meet the famous Zuckerberg-type Nathan (Oscr Isaac) to Turing Test out the new AI, Ava (Alicia Vikander). The idea and the execution is definitely very professional and well-researched, creating the uncomfortable mood that would no doubt surround any ordeal of that sort - this helps keep tension, but it’s also hard to watch. The direction, music, cinematography, dialogue is all great, and I think Ava is definitely an interesting take on an inorganic human. The plot does make sense in its own little arc, but it does give off a relatively cautionary feeling that would have been identified regardless of the ending.
Spoiler Territory
Oof. Nathan was super creepy. His relationship with Ava creeped me out. Ava was super sweet at the start, but her totally abandoning Caleb at the end was pretty weird for me, even if she did just manipulate him (which is disappointing). I pretty much guessed Kyoko/Katie (Sonoyo Mizuno) was a robot also, but the cupboard full of extras was creepy. Pretty scary overall.