‘Ex Machina’ provocative in all the right ways

Is “Ex Machina” a psychosexual science-fiction thriller or a philosophical look at the tricky ethics of artificial intelligence? The brilliance of this film is that it weaves together both approaches in equal measure. That allows for a movie to be dramatically gripping and intellectually stimulating.

The premise of “Ex Machina” is that an infinitely rich and reclusive computer genius named Nathan has created what he thinks is the first robot with consciousness. He invites Caleb, an employee of his Internet search engine company, to join him at his secret laboratory deep in the forests of Alaska. Caleb’s task? To suss out, over the course of a week-long series of conversations, whether the robot indeed has human consciousness. (Yes, it’s a version of the Turing Test, most recently seen in “The Imitation Game.”)

The robot named Ava is a stunning creation, an attractive young woman whose exposed midriff, skull, legs, and arms clearly reveal her mechanical origins but whose face and facial expressions are compellingly human, or at least human-like.

With each conversation, our tester, Caleb, finds himself more and more drawn to Ava, and vice-versa. Or so it seems. He can never be quite sure. Has she been programmed to flirt? He directly asks Nathan whether Ava’s sexuality is a calculated diversion tactic in the Turing Test, but her creator is noncommittal.

Still, Caleb becomes more and more troubled by Ava’s increasingly penetrating questions.

“What will happen to me if I fail your test,” she asked.

“It’s not up to me,” Caleb said.

“Why is it up to anyone?” she asked.

If she indeed does have consciousness, does she have any rights independent of her creator?

Nathan tries to soothe Caleb’s concerns.

“You feel bad for Ava?” Nathan asked. “Feel bad for yourself, man. One day the AIs are going to look back on us the same way we look at fossil skeletons in the plains of Africa.”

But when Ava tells Caleb in confidence that Nathan can’t be trusted, the stakes are heightened. Should he align himself with her or with him? It’s at this point, after a long slow burn, that the movie’s thriller components really kick in.

“Ex Machina” is very slick filmmaking, with an ice-cold exterior and a very hot (and sexy) inner core. One might argue that, like Ava herself, the film’s overt sexiness is a “calculated diversion tactic,” but for me it’s a perfect fit for the thriller genre.

This movie is provocative in all the right ways.