12-22-2015, 02:22 PM
Ex Machina (2015) by Alex Garland
A young programmer is chosen to take part in a Turing Test at a remote location. Actually, it isn’t purely a Turing Test, since he knows quite clearly from the start that he’s dealing with a robot; but that’s explained early in the film and didn’t give me a problem. This is a small film in the sense that there are very few characters -- just a few people/robots at this remote location. But the special effects are rock solid. It’s a smart movie, presenting a challenging puzzle, and the unusual characters that mostly avoid Hollywood stereotypes keep the movie fresh and unpredictable.
When the final credits rolled, Lady Cranefly was astonished. She had to explain to me why. It turns out that the two male leads were Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac, who we’d seen earlier in the day in Star Wars -- playing General Hux and Poe the crack pilot respectively. They were totally unrecognizable here.
I’m going to classify this as a doppelganger movie. Granted, there weren’t any actual doubles. But it did deal with robots meant to pass for human, which seems close enough. Besides, this way I can once again use the expression:
Worth a doppelgander.
A young programmer is chosen to take part in a Turing Test at a remote location. Actually, it isn’t purely a Turing Test, since he knows quite clearly from the start that he’s dealing with a robot; but that’s explained early in the film and didn’t give me a problem. This is a small film in the sense that there are very few characters -- just a few people/robots at this remote location. But the special effects are rock solid. It’s a smart movie, presenting a challenging puzzle, and the unusual characters that mostly avoid Hollywood stereotypes keep the movie fresh and unpredictable.
When the final credits rolled, Lady Cranefly was astonished. She had to explain to me why. It turns out that the two male leads were Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac, who we’d seen earlier in the day in Star Wars -- playing General Hux and Poe the crack pilot respectively. They were totally unrecognizable here.
I’m going to classify this as a doppelganger movie. Granted, there weren’t any actual doubles. But it did deal with robots meant to pass for human, which seems close enough. Besides, this way I can once again use the expression:
Worth a doppelgander.
I'm nobody's pony.