The definition of the Turing Test is to "challenge a machine’s ability to exhibit intelligence comparable to, or indistinguishable from, a human." And that investigation is at the heart of Ex Machina , a film in which a character is invited to participate in such an experiment, and as a marvellously inventive by-product, so too is the audience.

Loading

Loading

The character in question is Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), a brilliant coder working for Bluebook, the world’s most popular search engine. Caleb wins a competition to spend a week with the company’s reclusive CEO Nathan (Oscar Isaac), a genius who retreated to an Alaskan estate some years previous and has barely been heard from since.Because when the eccentric billionaire hasn’t been exercising or drinking – which seem to be his twin passions when Caleb arrives at the impressive abode – Nathan’s busy working on his true obsession, which is creating the world’s first true artificial intelligence.Like some muscular cross between Willy Wonka and Colonel Kurtz, Nathan greets his visitor with sweating intensity, tells him not to be freaked out by the strangeness of the situation, and thrusts the mother of all non-disclosure agreements under Caleb's nose with the promise of being at the centre of “the greatest scientific event of all-time.”Caleb duly signs the document, and is given a tour of the largely subterranean premises, which look less like a home and more like a research facility. And on discovering that his pass opens some doors but not others, it suddenly seems less like a research facility and more akin to a prison.But before he can dwell on that troubling detail, Ex Machina kicks into another gear as Caleb gets down to the business of finding out if Nathan’s creation, Ava, can pass the aforementioned test. And when he first lays eyes on her, the machine takes his breath away. Played by Swedish actress Alicia Vikander, she's a stunning sight to behold, her face the perfect depiction of feminine beauty; her body human in shape but with much of its mechanics exposed.What follows are a series of ‘Sessions’ between Caleb and Ava, the pair conversing as Nathan sits in isolation elsewhere, observing their interactions on a bank of screens. And once over the initial excitement of being in each other’s presence, their conversations are riveting, starting out playful but quickly becoming loaded with insinuation and subtext, most notably when Ava finally covers her naked machinery with human clothing, the addition of garments suddenly sexualising her in a way that blows Caleb’s hitherto rational mind.In between each sitting Nathan questions Caleb, and if anything these conversations are even more fascinating as a power struggle develops between the pair. Nathan is obviously testing out a lot more than just Alan Turing’s theory, but we are as in the dark as Caleb when it comes to knowing his true intentions.What follows is a smart and sophisticated psychological thriller in which every conversation is laced with tension. As the sessions progress, proceedings take a dark turn as all three sides of the bizarre love triangle use lies and manipulation as a means to achieve the very different ends they are after; the challenging sci-fi slowly morphing into horror.A dialogue-driven feature depends on the performances of its leads however, and Ex Machina is played to perfection by the three actors in question (as well as its one intriguing non-speaking star).Having recently starred in the likes of Inside Llewyn Davis, The Two Faces of January and A Most Violent Year, Oscar Isaac is building up an impressive pre-Star Wars body of work, and Ex Machina puts his charm and charisma to good use as Nathan.The character is an enigma from the off, and Isaac achieves the impressive feat of making him both likeable and terrifying, while humour underpins his performance, with Nathan bringing some much needed laughs to proceedings. And just wait till you see him dance!Domhnall Gleeson – who coincidentally stars opposite Isaac in The Force Awakens – matches him blow-for-blow as Caleb, filling the character with an innocence and vulnerability that make him the ying to Nathan’s yang. Caleb is supposed to be good with words, and “hot on high-level abstraction” and Gleeson believably conveys these traits, while at the same time imbuing him with a decency and morality that become important in the film’s final third.And Alicia Vikander is something of a revelation as Ava, lending the character an otherworldly quality that you can’t take your eyes off. The Swedish-born actress puts her training as a ballerina to good use through both Ava’s stillness and the manner in which she moves, and she's aided and abetted by some remarkable-yet-subtle visual effects work. But it’s the humanity Vikander brings to the character that ensures Ex Machina works, making it easy for the audience to forget that this is a human playing a machine, and instead believe that Ava is a living, breathing, thinking being entirely capable of passing any test put in front of her.But the real star of the show is Alex Garland. An author who burst onto the literary scene with The Beach in 1996, Garland has since moved into science-fiction by writing the screenplays for 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Never Let Me Go and Dredd, but Ex Machina is his most accomplished script to date.It’s a story that takes complicated philosophical questions about nature vs. nurture, the dangers of playing god, and what it means to be human and have consciousness, and not only makes them accessible, but also wraps them in a hugely entertaining tale that grips the viewer in a vice-like hold from the off.More impressive still, Ex Machina is Garland’s directorial debut, and yet it feels like the work of someone who has been honing their craft for decades. Indeed there’s something Kubrickian about the cold and calculated precision of the movie, which perfectly complements the subject matter.Credit should also go to production designer Mark Digby for the film’s marvellous interiors, each of which tell a story of their own, and Director of Photography Rob Hardy for the way in which he brings Nathan’s retreat and its surrounding beauty to life. All of which combine to make this a dazzling and thought-provoking cinematic experience the likes of which we don’t see nearly enough of on the big screen.