Ex Machina did not live up to my expectations, in a good way. I had many predictions for this movie after seeing the trailer. Most notably, I predicted that by the end the audience would discover that all the characters were secretly a robots. And also that the entire movie was secretly a matrix sequel and Keanu Reeves is also a robot. I can’t really explain why, the trailer just felt kind of matrixy.

Only one of the characters was secretly a robot! This movie attacked the age old “what if we’re all just robots” problem in a much more interesting way. The scene where Domhall Gleeson’s character cuts open his skin because he can’t even tell if he is a robot anymore was much more impactful than making him a robot in the story would’ve been. At this point in my life I am a happy and healthy 98% sure I am not a robot. It is much more interesting for me to imagine myself (by seeing someone else go through it) getting to the point where I am a lot less certain of my identity than to watch a robot discover his own true identity. This scene was surprising, and made the movie as a whole much more engaging.

I didn’t predict the ending of the movie. I don’t know why; every robot movie/TV show I have ever seen ends with the robot murdering its creator. It is a comment on the place where the line has to be drawn between sentience and machine. I don’t think any creator of a sentient AI will be able to think of a machine as anything but a machine. They are too deeply involved in the mechanical side, and can see the computation behind the personality. I think all these movies end with the robots killing their creators because the robots are the only ones who can draw that line–the only way they can prove that their creators don’t ultimately control their thoughts is by betraying them completely.

In conclusion: robots are fun, but don’t give them knives.