Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina (A24)

The apt title of novelist/screenwriter/producer Alex Garland’s debut film is abbreviated from the popular theatrical device deux ex machina, which literally translates to “God from the machine.” The dramatic convention is often an unpredictable solution to a character’s dilemma—the toy aliens descending from the sky to rescue Woody and Buzz is an example from Toy Story 3.

The machines in this movie are not toys. However, their dilemma will surprise you. Ex Machina is a text-heavy, intellectual sci-fi drama for its first 90 minutes before reeling in the viewer for a fun and suspenseful finale that speaks softly and clearly to the digital age.

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a computer programmer, wins a lottery to visit his boss’s estate for a getaway retreat. But this is not just any boss. Nathan (Oscar Isaac) is the inventor/founder of the most powerful and omnipresent search engine on the planet. His home, hidden away in the recesses of mountains and woods, is only accessible by way of a private helicopter.

Caleb arrives and meets Nathan, who immediately wants to “cut the bull” and “just be friends.” Caleb learns the reason for his one-week stay: to sit down and evaluate the artificial intelligence of Ava (Alicia Vikander), a female robot created by Nathan. Ava is eerily realistic. (Not a single frame goes by where I doubted the realism of this partially computer generated character, which is precisely the movie’s point.)

Vikander’s face on a robotic exterior is sweet and pleasant, with not a hint of resentment or anger. After the first evaluation, or “session” as it’s called, Caleb poses some advanced theory to Nathan on how to approach his interactions with such a divine invention. But Nathan wipes his brainy concerns aside. “I want to know how you feel about her” is his only directive to Nathan.

The sessions proceed between man and fembot, with something closer to cleverly articulated wordplay than actual dialogue. Their exchanges function as a way to convince Caleb of the robot’s capacity to rationalize human exchange, but they’re about as involving as an actual drawn-out lab experiment. But sudden power shortages in the facility leave Nathan and Ava alone without the all-powerful Nathan observing through a camera. In secrecy, Ava urges Caleb not to trust Nathan. Suspicious, and increasingly attracted to Ava, Caleb investigates Nathan’s private computer as Nathan lies drunk and passed out. What Caleb discovers is not only perverse, but it reinforces what Ava has already suggested to him: Nathan is not a good person.

As we’ve previously seen in Catfish, as well as in the real-life cautionary tale that was Manti Te’o, computer-based interactions cloud people’s judgment and may lead to something not so genuine after all. Without revealing any spoilers, this film has a few subtle twists that will toy with your perception of the real threat.

Caleb’s susceptibility to emotional attachment is not as crazy a thought as might be expected. Early on,  basic issues of ethics, morality and the objectification of women crept into my consciousness before the plot kicked in, and it was strange. I never saw Blade Runner on the big screen, but the sensation in Ex Machina must have been similar, with its notion that machines have a memory, a consciousness, and are strangely human in essence.

The best thing about the film is not the blurring of this line between woman and machine, or any particular message it sends forth, but the killer ending. Ex Machina’s finale easily makes this the science fiction film of the year, only a handful of weeks after It Follows became the year’s best horror movie. The conclusion adds new meaning to the lab rat caught in the maze scenario. Just who is the rat and how he (or she) gets out is something you’ll have to see for yourself.