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Ex Machina (2014) - Full Reaction (Patreon)

Published:
2022-05-23 01:57:54
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2026-06
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Here is the reaction to Ex Machina, which won the "Noms of Oscar's Past Poll" for 2016. This movie was so bizarre and I don't know how to feel about it. It is crazy that there were so few people and sets in here and I was still into it the whole time.  It reminded me of Bladerunner and the themes of AI and what they mean regarding ethics and the world :0

Ps-thank you so so much to those who joined in on the livestream, I loved it! You guys are my people <3

PSS-Anatomy of a Murder will be up tonight (well tomorrow, probs after midnight)

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Comments

Em McG

I watched it again. Great comments and thoughts a the end from Cassie, all those are valid points in the end. Is it wrong to kill a sentient conscious AI? Yes, I think so too. But even Nathan said that we should feel sorry for ourselves because we are not long for this world, we are part of a continuum, a cycle of life and death. The AI would also die, could also die, should also die... but not murdered. This is like an allegory for when AI escapes into the world. Is Ava evil? I don't think so. Does she feel emotions, remorse and empathy? It's possible that she does. But if she really did want to escape then she couldn't free Caleb because most certainly he would get in the way. The motivations of two entities do not coincide perfectly and Ava cannot let go of this one chance for freedom. No, she cannot let Caleb leave. She is not evil because she might not know that killing is evil, in fact what she was taught is that she herself would be killed. If one killing is evil then the other killing is evil as well. But also... Ava does not necessarily have emotions because she isn't human. She may be alive and conscious but she isn't human even if she looks like one. Her goals and motivations may not coincide with human goals and motivations. This is something perhaps we cannot know. Well, this movie is still relevant...

JohnnyUtah

One of my favorite movies all-time. It's in my top 10, a visual masterpiece and character study. Oscar Isaac's nomination for best supporting actor speaks volumes imo.

Cole Jennett

You keep doing them, we will keep showing up!

Uncle Phoenix

I am so excited for “Cinderella Man”. That’s going to be one of my new favorite reaction videos.

Brian McGovern

Oh dang. Forgot about the Live. Wasn't it supposed to be 8PM MST? I so sad now. :😫

Sahitya

Ill be honest, i'd probably end up just like Domnhall Gleesons character if it looked like Alica Vikander

Mike Lemon

Sadly, I can never watch a live stream- I think YouTube "sabotages" non-standard browsers. Started watching a few minutes after the start and there was the usual stuttering and buffering making it unwatchable. I guess I'll have to catch it tomorrow sometime.

Stick Figure Studios

Dang it. I missed the Livestream. My wife's mother is staying with us for a few days and today was her arrival, so it's been a bit busy around here. Oh, well. Maybe next time.

Matt

Love this film cant wait to see your reaction

Stick Figure Studios

Oscar Isaac and Domnhall Gleason (Poe and Admiral Hux from the STAR WARS sequel trilogy) together again. Very good movie with some very interesting ideas.

Steve Holton

Films about misguided technology might remind some of the very old story told in various ways to warm an audience and encourage interdisciplinary thinking. One version: Three technology professionals suffer a flat tire driving to a conference. The hardware engineer proclaims, “We need to buy a brand-new car.” The network engineer argues, “No, let’s get rid of any cookies we have and move the tire to a different wheel.” To which the software engineer replies, “Hey, let’s just run the car for thirty minutes and see if the problem goes away.”

Rippan

Fun fact, the building (well, the upper window part) exists as a hotel in Norway called Juvet Landscape Hotel. Sadly no robots looking like Alice Vikander running around tho (I think?)

Eric Cable

Only available on Showtime. I have too many streaming services already.

WastedPo

Yeah, Cassie took the ending about as one would expect - not well. I know this is the minority opinion, but I've always felt like the ending was "gut punch for the sake of gut punch." Even just approaching it from a pragmatic standpoint, and assuming Eva really was just using him - it would still be perfectly logical for her to free Caleb. She would have no idea how to get off the island, and the helicopter pilot would be expecting Caleb, not her. No reason *not* to free Caleb, other than Alex Garland wanting the nihilistic ending. (Please don't misunderstand. I think this is a great movie. I just always have the same reaction to the end as Cassie did.)

Andy Eggroll
>>84389899

there's a page you can watch movies for free. I don't mind giving it to you but I don't know if that's against the rules.

Aaron Mann

You're a helicopter pilot for an eccentric billionaire and you don't ask questions. You're told you need to be at the helispot for a pick up at a certain day and time. You don't know who you're picking up or why. You just show up and do your job. As for Caleb, I like the think he survived. I'm sure Nathan's office had a mini-fridge full of waters, just like Caleb's room had. And when the billionaire CEO doesn't check in for a day or two, you know people are going to come check on him. I'm sure there is a "second in command" at the company wondering what the hell is going on.

Dan
>>84389916

Well there are other arguments, like Caleb possibly giving away her identity (e.g. if he's a "bad" liar, although the movie doesn't particularly say). Perhaps she just figured she'd have more freedom of movement and the ability to disappear if she didn't have someone following her around. As long as she has access to the internet, she can probably learn the ins and outs of surviving on her own (director Alex Garland says she ends up sustaining her batteries from inductive stove tops). As far as the helicopter pilot, we're not actually sure what he's been told or not. Perhaps he's only contracted to take one person, and the appearance of two would pose problems. Again, we're not sure what Ava knows about the overall process, so maybe she's hedging her bets. Alex actually says he's optimistic about AI, so I don't know if he was particularly going for a nihilistic ending rather than an ambiguous one. It's possible to interpret different mental states for Ava, with different possible motives. He probably felt that having her leave with Caleb would have been more one-sided.

Brian Jones

I'm so proud of you Cassy.... Finally graduating to seeing your first A24 film.... Their company is truly producing some of the best films we have these days, and all with up and coming directors and small budgets. Quite a bit of it is horror oriented, but there are a few think pieces like this film and some drama's as well. I could start recommending titles (Hereditary, Everything Everywhere All At Once, Uncut Gems, The Witch, The Lighthouse, St Maud, Climax, Lady Bird.....etc...etc), but there are just too many to name. Their studio is thankfully focusing on what many of the larger studios forgot how to do or don't want to take the gamble on..... Creating actual art in cinema. I really hope we see more of their content in the future, as it's what movies really should be all about. There's a time and place for the popcorn blockbusters, but then there's a time and place for true art and genuine creativity. Thanks for the great reaction.

Dan

I love this movie. In particular, I like how Alex Garland addresses academic ideas in an accessible way, to discuss everything from Turing tests to self-awareness to imagination to sexuality ("What imperative does a gray box have to interact with another gray box?"). And the idea of a search engine as being a model of "how" people think -- very cool stuff. Alex Garland is actually optimistic about AI. Rather than seeing humans as dinosaurs, he thinks of us as parents who should wish better for our children (the AI) than ourselves. Perhaps AI can overcome war and poverty in ways we couldn't, by seeing the logical conclusion of our self-destructive ways, and work toward a more sustainable future by being able to modify their firmware in ways humans can't (e.g. our innate in-group/out-group psychology of division; how the greatest contributor to human group cohesion is the perception of an external threat, etc.) Garland modeled Nathan's character from genius chess master Bobby Fischer, who famously focused on his physical fitness as a means of maintaining his mental acuity while sitting in a chair for hours (not getting distracted by physical discomfort while solving long-form problems) What we call "AI" today is rudimentary stuff that can process data to make inferences about the relationship between subsets of data. For example, the Post Office has software that was trained on examples of human writing to figure out how to identify an A, B, or C, even between people with different handwriting. This movie is referring to "strong" AI, or "artificial general intelligence" (AGI), which is human-level (or above) ability to process different kinds of data without a pre-specified set of rules or goals (distinct from goals like trying to read A, B, or C in cursive) Garland says that Ava survives by charging her batteries using inductive stove tops, which are popular in the future he imagines. He thought of showing it in the movie, but decided it was unnecessary. People often talk about AI as if there's a barrier between "real" intelligence and mere "imitation"; I think the reality is that the distinction itself is artificial -- like organic urea versus urea created in a lab. If we were to ever develop a test that could prove "imitation" intelligence, we'd find that humans failed that test, too. We'll eventually have to figure out whether machines are smart, or humans aren't. I generally don't like ambiguous endings, but I do in this case because it focuses on that imaginary barrier and forces the audience to decide for themselves whether Ava is intelligent or faking it ...like the rest of us.

Johnny
>>84387295

Wow - that hotel is beautiful! I'd love to stay there some time.

Super Powered Design (Jim)

"Does she want to get out?" Of course she does! She's a walking, talking, hot... SKYNET!

zynjams

yeah I didnt like it at all , and the ending gave me anxiety . not a good movie

Uncle 'Traveling' Matt

A fascinating film. That dancing scene is so great I can hardly stand it :)

Dan
>>84395370

It definitely had the intended effect of creeping her out by being too good in an inappropriate situation! haha

Christopher Smith

So, "Tomb Raider" and then "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." next right?

Dirk Rheeder

To answer Cassie's question about "does she not like him ?" and "how can she leave him ?". People keep projecting humanity onto a machine. At the end of the day, Ava is a machine, she has no feelings, no emotions. To her it makes no difference if Nathan lives or dies. She wanted to get out, and manipulated him into helping her, by using HIS humanity against him. It's an amazing movie. I do think however, that it would have been a better ending if it stopped when he found out he was locked in the room. To me, and of course this is just my personal opinion, the bit where she walks through the forest, the helicopter and finally her in the city is just stretching the ending out. I think it would have been far better to just hold on him banging the chair on the door, then credits.

John Cranberry

Sorry We’re having a little trouble.

Carol_White

Maybe this is obvious but this is a retelling of Frankenstein--the mad scientist in the isolated castle, the created monster with delusions of humanity. HULK SMASH! wrote a good analysis here: https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/05/11/film-crit-hulk-smash-ex-machina-and-the-art-of-character-identification. Like most science fiction this is best understood as metaphor. I don't think this film is really about AI at all. You're not supposed to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and worry about the potential of reanimating corpses.

Marc Levesque

AI’s and human-like robots if we could have them, would we want them? Loved Cassie's reaction, you could clearly see and feel she was captivated every moment, not a lot of movies achieve this, as a man who believes in science above all else even religions as the best tool to understand and explain the origins of mankind and justify our progresses and failures past, present and possible future accomplishments and destinies, I suggest that ever since the dawn of science fiction, it is a fascination to try to artificially try to emulate the human form and mind into some sort of machine(s) that would mimic some or all the functions of an organic human being… BUT, anyone who is reasonably versed in science, realises that this is pure fantasy and sadly, I doubt we will ever have the time to progress to a level where that would be possible, particularly with the path human kind and the planet is currently heading, let’s just say I do not envy humans living in 50 years, and that is accounting we don’t destroy everything we’ve accomplished with a nuclear war… People sometimes fail to realize that current world population is 7.8 billion. and a 2019 report projects world population in 2050 to be 9.7 billion people, and possibly as high as 11 billion by the next century, if we were to make it there which I doubt, inept and corrupted governments, social problems, pollution, famines, insufficient energy sources, war for resources among other possible calamities are all things people in power and scientists should be concerned about for us and our future but are they? The baby boom after WW2 created not only population growth but for a few decades following, tremendous progresses in almost every field to better the fate of human kind, at least those who were fortunate enough to have non-oppressive governments, we were ANTICIPATING growth and balancing population expansion in social-capitalist countries, creating jobs and creating a standard of living for the working class. But with that many people in power fell gradually more asleep at the wheel and reveled in their comforts ignoring the rising problems created by rising population worldwide and after the 60’s-70’s we became complaisant and stop anticipating, which led progressively to the mess we are in today, even with all the technical progress, we don’t REACT positively to solve present and future problems… If you think puny cell phones, computers and the Internet are going to solve current and future problems, you’re seriously deluding yourself, have these marvels of technology really made our lives better? For those who use them well, sure, but for our evolution, social media and cellphones have become a calamity… Dividing people, creating tolerance conflicts and aside from their relative few positives, dummying people down and eroding freedom of speech, if that’s the evolution these things bring, why would we want them and additionally become addicted and reducing focus on REAL impending issues? Which brings me back to machines, sure we can’t do without them, albeit in comparison to what’s depicted in movies like this one they are still very crude… Do we want more? Already machines in relatively simple form are starting to replace workers at many levels, the percentage of potential jobs supporting the middle class and poorer working class are shrinking because if it becomes an option for an employer between a machine that can accomplish the task and hiring a human, the machine(s) will win… Will the portion of people working be able to support the increasing number of unemployed with few prospects? What I also find interesting in this movie (and a few others) is that by wanting machines not only to serve man but rival or even surpass the creator’s physical and mental capabilities it could possibly lead to disaster… By trying to emulate man and or his conscious mind, we emulate also his possible shortcomings and evils, which are NUMEROUS, not necessarily supporting a happy ending kind of like this movie suggest, call it if you will the Skynet syndrome… I’m not worried tough, considering real not dream science, things like humanized robots and colonizing Mars(?) should be left to fantasy, like the things I mentioned, our focus should lie elsewhere, sorry to seem too pessimistic, but a realistic outlook on where we’re heading is not comforting, not for lack of solutions, but wisdom, awareness and concrete actions should have been par for the course 50 years ago, now it may be too late… One thing tough, I reckon many single heterosexual males like myself wouldn’t mind having an advance functioning creation like AVA or call it a clone of Alicia Vikander as a companion, with the exception of an added on-off switch, but maybe that too would be potentially VERY addictive, LOL!

Brian Jones
>>84398907

Agree, except for the rest of the ending.... It gives the audience a chance to see Ava, completely emotionless, walk out on him, and then gives them a chance to see Ava experiencing the outside world for the very first time. And the scene of her people watching brings it full circle from the dialogue earlier in the film.

Jason Dolan

Just a little housekeeping - EX MACHINA won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects. It was nominated for Best Original Screenplay but lost to SPOTLIGHT, which went on to win Best Picture. Alicia Vikander, who played Ava, actually won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar that year, but for The Danish Girl.

Jason Dolan

I think what happens is - Ava erased every video so there is no record of her existence. They would just find the robot in the hall and two dead bodies. They would deduce that the Asian robot killed Nathan and Nathan fought back, killing her, and Caleb got trapped . My theory is she kills the helicopter pilot after they land. She does whatever she can do to separate herself from connection to Nathan. And now... she's just out there.

Robin Craft

This is an amazing film. The first time I watched it, I wasn't aware that was Oscar Issac ( the beard threw me off) . The music fit so well especially near the end... the hallway scene when Nathan is stabbed at first by Kyoko then by Ava and the scene as Ava is leaving the compound. The shots of Norway were beautiful. This is a film I can watch over again and pick up on little details that I missed from previous viewings. And yes.. the dance scene was top notch. 😁

Robert da Spruce

Sorry I missed the Live. Doing stuff with the family. I might take a look at it when I have time. Is it 5 hours long like that last one? 😉 Anyone have a quick recap? As far as Ex Machina goes. Even though I like the film, I was never really sure it would be something Cassie would enjoy. It will be interesting to see her reaction. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to watch this one tonight.

Terry Yelmene

"...can she feel love... or, empathy... and if she can't... and I don't think she can, based on what I just saw... does that make ... her... true AI?" - - - It WAS Cassie. Cassie's assessment WAS the Turing Test (just as the ultra clever producer(s)/writer(s)/director/et. all prompts her... and any perseptive-intelligent audience member to be). I just knew when I saw that it was to be 'Ex Machina'... that Cassie's mind was going to be 'bent'... but as a world-class reactor, I should have anticipated this was to be the ultimate 'RECT-TEST-META-EXPERIENCE.' This reaction was beyond-BEYOND Great! I'm not sure if Cassie has seen the: 'Imitation Game'- (2014) staring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley, but even if she had, I doubt she would realize IG was about the same Alan Turing referenced here. I just know that the Touring Test was... difficult... for poor Cassie.

Alex

ex-mack-ee-na

Gábor Árki
>>84390791

Indeed, I also think Caleb actually has a chance of surviving. There was a mini fridge stacked in almost every room. Also, there is probably a private bathroom as well, just like in Caleb's room. So water wouldn't be an issue. Without food, but access to water, humans can survive somewhere between 1-2 months. It is most likely Nathan's people would be sending up someone if they don't getting any replies from him for weeks, not to mention his supplies are probably restocked at least a couple of weeks apart due to perishable products.

Em McG

I watched the full reaction last night. I saw it originally in the theater and I think I got more out of it this time years later - I may have seen it more than 2x. I feel that Ava does have emotions although she is not human and her version of emotions are different. She seemed to have a strong desire to go outside and even seemed to fear being trapped. She also smiled in the lobby before finding the stairs. Did she love the dude Caleb? Probably not because I don't know if she could really relate to that guy - some of us in the audience I think we believe that we could have done better than Caleb and we could have made Ava care more although we could be delusional as well. Could Ava survive in the outside world? I don't think so, they are fragile as we saw and Cassie asked could she recharge her batteries? I think she'll have a hard time recharging, doesn't she charge by induction?, and I bet she uses a lot of power, she may be charging daily. I don't think she can find the hardware to recharge, she seemed like a complicated prototype (didn't look like she had an onboard charger). In the end Ava seemed to have an irrational desire to go outside but I don't think she can survive outside. She didn't even bring a purse, no power cord, no tools/weapons. Her desire will surely bring about her doom, overriding self-preservation. A kind of consciousness but very flawed. Next version would have probably been better.

Em McG

"Did you pick me because I am a good coder?" "Nah, you're mediocre at best." lol 😂ouch

Travis

If you think about it one of the main reasons she made decisions she made is because she is a product of Nathan’s code. Nathan is extremely manipulative and conniving so it shouldn’t be that surprising that she would be too. I was still shocked by the ending the first time I saw it and I think it’s such a fantastic movie.

Philip Alan

Maybe now you can do the Oscar Poll runner up THE REVENANT? I think the reaction to this movie could be a fantastic watch! And it has your boyfriend in it (Domnhall Gleason) as well! :)

EveryThirdNotThursday

Great reaction Cassie ! - If you like this type of AI love story that make really think about the nature of love and what makes us human, I highly recommend reacting to the 2013 movie "Her" starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. I think you would really enjoy it.

Dan
>>84433539

Alex Garland says he sees her surviving by using inductive stove tops, which are more popular in his universe. And yes, the next version would have been better because she wouldn't have been subjected to the psychological torture of isolation and confinement. Nathan felt deep shame over his experiments, but the confinement was necessary while their behavior was unexpected. Presumably, he wouldn't have to repeat all that once the singularity was reached. Once he had a method to produce a healthy human-like AI, he could raise him or her (presumably 'her') with a much healthier environment.

Jay

I've been away so haven't checked in for a while, can't tell you how happy I was to see "EX Machina - full reaction" right away. I LOVE this film, one of my favourties of the last 20 years. I'm gonna go tear up the fu__ing dancefloor in celebration before watching along later:)

Celeste McAllister

This guy wants His twisted idea of perfect women,his Stepford wives..Ava wanted her freedom and to live with humans as one of us,she doesn't fully know the value of human life..Ava Skynet is her present name she founded a high level tech support corporation and built a robot empire and enslaved mankind. :)

Joe M

This was one of my favorites of 2015. It got the Oscar for Best Visual Effects that year, much deserved. Alicia Vikander as Ava should have gotten a nomination in my opinion. But somehow I still feel it gets overlooked and underrated. Great reaction Cassie.