[7][8][9] Caleb Smith, a programmer at the search engine company Blue Book, wins an office contest for a one-week visit to the luxurious, isolated home of the CEO, Nathan Bateman.
She has already passed a simple Turing test, and he wants Caleb to judge whether she is genuinely capable of thought and consciousness as well as whether he can relate to Ava despite knowing she is artificial.
Ava can trigger power outages that temporarily shut down the surveillance system that Nathan uses to monitor their interactions, allowing them to speak privately.
He learns that Nathan intends to upgrade Ava after Caleb's test, wiping her memory circuits and in effect "killing" her current personality in the process.
After seeing Ava on the security cameras leave her confinement and interact with Kyoko, Nathan knocks Caleb unconscious and rushes to stop the two robots from escaping.
Ava finds Caleb, and asks him to remain where he is while she repairs herself with parts from other androids, using their artificial skin to take on the full appearance of a woman.
The foundation for Ex Machina was laid when Garland was 11 or 12 years old, after he had done some basic coding and experimentation on a computer his parents had bought him and which he sometimes felt had a mind of its own.
[16] Wanting total creative freedom, and without having to add conventional action sequences, Garland made the film on as small a budget as possible.
Ava's robot body was achieved using a detailed costume, a full bodysuit made from polyurethane with metal powder poured onto it to create the mesh.
[23][24] Other visual effects included Ava's clothes when shown through the transparent areas of her body, Nathan's blood after being stabbed, and the interiors of the artificial brains.
The website's consensus reads: "Ex Machina leans heavier on ideas than effects, but it's still a visually polished piece of work—and an uncommonly engaging sci-fi feature.
[40] An AI commentator, Azeem, has noted that although the film seemed to be about a robot who wanted to be human, it was actually a pessimistic story along the lines of Nick Bostrom's warning of how difficult it will be to successfully control a strategising artificial intelligence or know what it would do if free.
[41] The New York Times critic Manohla Dargis gave the film a 'Critic's Pick', calling it "a smart, sleek movie about men and the machines they make".
[42] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times recommended the film, stating: "Shrewdly imagined and persuasively made, 'Ex Machina' is a spooky piece of speculative fiction that's completely plausible, capable of both thinking big thoughts and providing pulp thrills.
"[44] IGN reviewer Chris Tilly gave the film a nine out of ten 'Amazing' score, saying "Anchored by three dazzling central performances, it's a stunning directorial debut from Alex Garland that's essential viewing for anyone with even a passing interest in where technology is taking us.
"[45] Mike Scott, writing for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, said, "It's a theme Mary Shelley brought us in Frankenstein, which was first published in 1818 ... And while Ex Machina replaces the stitches and neck bolts with gears and fiber-optics, it all feels an awful lot like the same story".
Up until the final scenes, Garland creates and sustains a credible atmosphere of unease and scientific speculation, defined by color-coded production design [...] and a tiny, capable cast".
Still, for dystopian future-shock fans who can look beyond its basic design flaws, Garland's feature debut functions just fine as superior pulp sci-fi.
"[50] In Science Fiction Film and Television, reviewer Nick Jones states that, while the definition of a Turing test given by Caleb—"It's where a human interacts with a computer.