The Film (3.5/5)

Alex Garland, known mainly for being a writer , with his impressive resume including Dredd and 28 Days Later, makes his directorial debut with an excellent thought provoking film, Ex Machina, which treads on familiar territory, artificial intelligence.

Caleb Smith (Domhnall Gleeson, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows), a programmer at a leading search engine company called Blue Book, wins a contest to spend a week in the home of the company’s CEO, Nathan Bateman(Oscar Isaac, X-men Apocalypse). Bateman, also being technologically advanced, has built an android woman, Ava (Alicia Vikander, A Royal Affair). The only other person living there is a lady named Kyoko (Sonoya Mizuno, La La Land) who is his servant. Bateman wants Caleb to test and study Ava to see if she would pass as a real woman. During the experiments, Caleb becomes somewhat infatuated with Ava; his desire to learn about her grows, and discovers that she is far more intelligent than originally thought, leading to some startling discoveries about her and Bateman. And yes, there are other androids lucking around

Ex Machina is a fascinating film once everything starts to move along and you get to know the characters. Nathan Bateman character is basically an obnoxious creep who uses profanity all throughout the film. In addition to Ava being more than what she is thought to be, Kyoko, as we later see, is also not as she appears to be. The acting is excellent, with excellent performance by the cast. Garland’s debut as a director can be seen as a huge success. He keeps the movie flowing at a methodical pace, with a strong emphasis on the character development as it slowly progresses. So while artificial intelligence isn’t the most original idea in the cinematic universe, Garland gives it a twist and a sharp turn, keeping his film from being run of the mill.

Audio/Video (5/5)

Lionsgate presents Ex Machina on UHD in its original letterboxed 2:40:1 aspect ratio, in 2160P, 4K UHD, and it is definitely visually appealing.  Colors are really rich, vivid and robust. Greens are very strong during the outdoor scenery shots where there are plenty of trees and bushes, black levels look good and not inky or smeary. Indoor scenes appear a little flat however, possibly due to the way the film was shot, but the interior is still very rich, detailed, and has a very natural look.

The audio used for the UHD disc is the same as the Blu-ray release. My UHD player, via default uses the English DTS: X Audio option which is excellent. The dialog sounded great with no drop-offs or other issues while the quirky score, by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury (from the electronic band Portishead) is clear, creepy and very effective.

On the UHD disc, there are two other audio options to choose from which are English DTS-HD Master Audio and English DTS Digital Surround Audio as well.

Extras (4/5)

The UHD disc contains no extras; however, you can still enjoy the supplements on the Blu-ray disc which is part of the package and in HD.

The extras include “Through the Looking Glass: Making Ex Machina “, SXSW Q&A with the cast and crew and eight behind the scenes vignettes gallery which includes :Making Ava, Nathan's World, New Consciousness, Becoming Ava, Director, Cast, Meet Ava, God Complex, and Music. Last but not least there is an ‘Easter Egg’ to tickle your fancy.

Overall (4.5/5)

While Ex Machina may not be everyone’s cup of tea, aka type of film, this will go down as a cult classic. A great directorial debut for Alex Garland, with a strong story and excellent characters made the film a winner. The UHD picture quality is excellent, as is the audio. Because this is a UHD, Blu-ray combo, you can still get the best of both worlds to watch the movie, and if only for the extras, you have the Blu-ray disc to enjoy them. A great release from Lionsgate and highly recommended.