Ex Machina

Ex Machina follows Caleb, a programmer at a major internet company who wins an internal contest whose prize is a week at a remote mountain property belonging to Nathan, the company's reclusive chief executive. What Caleb expects to be a simple visit turns out to be something else: he has been brought there to take part in an experiment involving Ava, a robot with artificial intelligence, and to communicate with her and assess what he finds. The arrangement draws Caleb, Nathan and Ava into shifting questions of trust and attraction, with the isolated house and Nathan's other domestic creations forming the background.

Alex Garland wrote and directed the film, his first time in the director's chair, following Dredd in 2012 and preceding Annihilation, Men, Civil War, Warfare and Elden Ring in his directing credits. Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb, Alicia Vikander plays Ava, and Oscar Isaac plays Nathan, with Sonoya Mizuno, Corey Johnson and Claire Selby in supporting roles. Andrew Macdonald and Allon Reich produced.

Made for about 15 million dollars, Ex Machina took roughly 37 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its budget. On IMDb it holds 7.7 out of 10 from 636,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.6 out of 10 from 14,598 votes. A critics' rating of 8.2 out of 10 from 290 reviews places professional assessment above the audience scores.