'Ex Machina' looks at what it means to be human

<b>Mini-review: 'Ex Machina'</b>

"Can machines think the way humans do?" is the question a cop asks Benedict Cumberbatch's mathematician Alan Turing in the drama "The Imitation Game." Alex Garland's smart and cautionary artificial intelligence drama "Ex Machina" answers that question: Yes, machines can think as humans. Even better maybe.

We accompany Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson), a talented young computer programmer, as he spends a week at the guarded mountain estate of the brilliant but highly secretive Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), eccentric CEO of a hugely successful search engine company.

Nathan tells Caleb he's been selected to participate in a Turing Test by evaluating his latest A.I. experiment: Ava (Alicia Vikander), a strangely alluring android whose E.I. (emotional intelligence) proves to be more highly developed than anyone suspects.

"Ex Machina" is a Latin term referring to "a plot device whereby a seemingly unsolvable problem is suddenly and abruptly resolved by the contrived and unexpected intervention of some new event, character, ability or object." In ancient dramas, this usually took the form of a god intervening for the sake of a tidy finale.

Garland writes a screenplay crackling with S.I. (script intelligence) and a keen sense of his characters. Caleb is clearly wowed by Nathan's experimental fortress and his apparent trust in Caleb's abilities to further Nathan's A.I. work.

But Ava has her own agenda, and that includes jamming Nathan's eavesdropping microphones long enough to explain she's a prisoner who needs to escape from this mad scientist's elaborate lair.

"Ex Machina" addresses heady issues of A.I., exploring what it means to be human or, more important, what it means to be an imitation of humanity so real, what's the actual difference?

After portraying startlingly different characters in "Inside Llewyn Davis" and "A Most Violent Year," Isaac proves to be Cumberbatch's major rival for the title of most versatile movie actor of the 21st century. Isaac, adopting a beard, wire-rims and a burr-cut head, is properly enigmatic and unreadable as Nathan.

Gleeson provides an appealing blend of idealism and pragmatism, although too much of one may prove to be disastrous for his lonely character.

Vikander is the cast standout as Ava, with a face as expressive as a silent actress given that we see only that part of her atop a wonderfully rendered robotic body for much of the movie. Her performance is quietly seductive, yet sparked with mystery and intensity.

The minor complaint with "Ex Machina" sounds a bit trivial: Nathan's vast compound is perfectly clean with fresh supplies on hand, yet there are no staff or workers anywhere in sight for upkeep or even security. How is the maintenance managed?

Then, there's that strange thing Nathan tells Caleb, that after building his modern-day Xanadu, Nathan had everybody killed.

It was a joke. Wasn't it?

<b>"Ex Machina" opens at the River East and Century Cinema theaters in Chicago and the Century Evanston Cinema 12. Rated R for language, nudity, sexual situations, violence. 108 minutes. ★ ★ ★ ½</b>