red snow Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I watched this yesterday and I rather enjoyed it. It's more of a "moon" sci-fi film than a "Guardians of the Galaxy" sci-fi film. It seems that Alex Garland is more than capable of directing his own screenplays which is great as he has a great track record. The acting is great all around with Oscar Isaac stealing the show (although I can see others liking Alicia i=viskander's robot portrayal more). Good chance to see how 2 star war actors may play off each other too (Isaac and Gleason).I was worried that the trailer was spoiling a massive reveal in the plot but that really isn't the case. The film quickly establishes a truckload of paranoia about "what's really going on". The film does raise some questions about AI vs humanity and what I liked about it was that there isn't a black or white answer. So it's a sci-fi film in that it uses science to raise some interesting questions as opposed to it being an excuse for action. There's room for both types of film but this one is in the rarer latter category without going to far into the extremes of "under the skin" and "Upstream Colour". Worth a look - although I think this is a rare occasion where the americans have to wait a few months for it. I'll be curious to see how it compares to "chappie" which has some similar concepts if the trailer is anything to go by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Definitely want to see this as I am a fan of Garland. But it's at the end of a list of films I want to catch first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex. Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 I absolutely loved it. Left the cinema in a kind of thoughtful haze. Made me think about a lot of stuff. In fact, I'm still thinking about if now. Definitely recommend it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 Definitely want to see this as I am a fan of Garland. But it's at the end of a list of films I want to catch first. It's a bad time of year for a release of this kind given all the oscar contenders. It will most likely fall between the cracks which is a massive shame. Hopefully it's good enough to at least get him noticed by some producers though. Or it will fair better in the US in April - when Avengers 2 comes out... Makes me wonder if these types of film would be better released as TV specials on HBO/Sky atlantic? It could have easily fit in with "black mirror" on channel 4 for example as the budget would have shrank even moreso without the robot CGI (which isn't really essential despite looking good) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted January 24, 2015 Author Share Posted January 24, 2015 I also suspect Garland is now on top of the hit list for future star wars spin-offs. Entry requirements seem to be "make an interesting low-budget sci-fi film. Check. That and at least two (Viskander is rumoured to be turning up in star wars after VII) of the cast in this are in episode VII. I wouldn't be surprised if he's been in talks for a while.I'd rather he make some of his own films but I can also see the potential in him being allowed to play in the expanded star wars universe with a strong budget. Then he can hopefully go on and make some cool "indie" films like Nolan does. It's my naïve hope that the star wars films throw the spotlight on promising directors. Although that took a knock after seeing "Godzilla" and what I've heard of "Fantastic Four" isn't promising (although I'll hold out hope for that one) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I watched this yesterday and I rather enjoyed it. It's more of a "moon" sci-fi film than a "Guardians of the Galaxy" sci-fi film. It seems that Alex Garland is more than capable of directing his own screenplays which is great as he has a great track record. The acting is great all around with Oscar Isaac stealing the show (although I can see others liking Alicia i=viskander's robot portrayal more). Good chance to see how 2 star war actors may play off each other too (Isaac and Gleason). I was worried that the trailer was spoiling a massive reveal in the plot but that really isn't the case. The film quickly establishes a truckload of paranoia about "what's really going on". The film does raise some questions about AI vs humanity and what I liked about it was that there isn't a black or white answer. So it's a sci-fi film in that it uses science to raise some interesting questions as opposed to it being an excuse for action. There's room for both types of film but this one is in the rarer latter category without going to far into the extremes of "under the skin" and "Upstream Colour". I saw it today and I agree it was a good movie. The Moon comparison is a good one in terms of scale and I think the small scale of the plot works a lot better for exploring the concepts than some of the blockbusters like A.I. that have tried to deal with similar themes in the past. I did think Viskander did a really good job of being likeable and seeming very human in many ways while still having enough awkwardness to feel like something trying to appear human. All the actors (all four of them) were good, I liked Oscar Isaac's performance and the dance scene was amusingly surreal. I did like that the exploration of the Turing Test going beyond the simple 'could pass convincingly as a human' and pointing out that even if that could be achieved it's really only the beginning and that it asked a lot of interesting questions but didn't feel it had to necessarily try to answer them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 That dance scene was great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex. Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Made me smile to recall that Domhnall Gleeson played basically the opposite role in his Black Mirror episode where he was the non-human trying to pass as human convincingly enough to make Hayley Atwell accept him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Made me smile to recall that Domhnall Gleeson played basically the opposite role in his Black Mirror episode where he was the non-human trying to pass as human convincingly enough to make Hayley Atwell accept him. I thought that too. He must be drawn to such scripts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex. Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 He's a very interesting actor. Hope he keeps doing more stuff like this on the weirder side of hollywood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isis Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 Did you three think that it was a super predictable ending? Someone else I know said they'd have turned it off before the end if they were watching it at home. I think that is a little harsh personally, but yes, I did think that the ending was inevitable. Caleb had this crushing lack of self-awareness which mildly annoyed me throughout so I'm pretty cool with the ending actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex. Posted January 30, 2015 Share Posted January 30, 2015 That's very harsh. I think in my heart of hearts I saw it coming but that in no way affected my enjoyment of it. In fact it was nice to see an ending where the guy presented as the "hero" (for lack of a better term) didn't end up with the girl just because. Caleb was amazingly unselfaware, at no point acknowledging that it wasn't all about him. To my mind he didn't really think that Ava was AI but was eager to try and help her escape because it made him feel a bit heroic. When it became apparent that Ava had her own agency and was playing him I almost cheered. Made the film 100x better for me. The robot presented as human, making choices that actually showed her as an individual. Caleb was too caught up in it to see whether or not she had indeed passed the Turing Test. We, the audience, got to see that she did, and with flying colours. That's my two cents anyway. It might make sense, it might not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
red snow Posted January 30, 2015 Author Share Posted January 30, 2015 Did you three think that it was a super predictable ending? Someone else I know said they'd have turned it off before the end if they were watching it at home. I think that is a little harsh personally, but yes, I did think that the ending was inevitable. Caleb had this crushing lack of self-awareness which mildly annoyed me throughout so I'm pretty cool with the ending actually. I don't think the predictable ending matters too much. the scientist guy told us early in the story that Ava was probably manipulating the caleb. In fact pretty much everything the scientist brought up came to pass. I think Caleb was meant to be a soft touch. He was a nice guy and as is often the case nice guys are used by less nice people. I think the more interesting part of the film is that "being human" maybe isn't such a great goal to try and attain. I do keep wondering about one scene in particular though when she asked caleb are you a good person. Was he telling the truth and that's why she screwed him over or was he lying and that's why she screwed him over? I think it's the former as she was then able to formulate her escape plan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
williamjm Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Did you three think that it was a super predictable ending? Someone else I know said they'd have turned it off before the end if they were watching it at home. I think that is a little harsh personally, but yes, I did think that the ending was inevitable. Caleb had this crushing lack of self-awareness which mildly annoyed me throughout so I'm pretty cool with the ending actually.I don't think it would have made any sense considering the rest of the film for there to be a happily-ever-after ending where Caleb and Ava ride off into the sunset together, so in that sense I think it is predictable. I think it was less predictable what precisely happens to Caleb, another film might have had Ava killing both Caleb and Nathan, alternatively she could have gone with him on the helicopter back to civilisation and then left him later rather than leaving him trapped. I think the ending they did choose does work well, I particularly liked that just before the elevator doors close Ava glances towards Caleb stuck behind the other door after having completely ignored him up to that point, I think that seemed a very 'human' thing to do, if she was really just an android then she'd have no reason to do that. I do keep wondering about one scene in particular thoughwhen she asked caleb are you a good person. Was he telling the truth and that's why she screwed him over or was he lying and that's why she screwed him over? I think it's the former as she was then able to formulate her escape plan I hadn't thought about that but I think it's a good question to ask. Perhaps the answer itself isn't that important, what's more important is that Caleb wants to be seen to be a good person and wants to think of himself as a good person. That's enough to let him be manipulated whether he's actually got genuinely good motives or not isn't really necessary for Ava's manipulations to succeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dooog Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Saw it a week ago and thought it was absolutely brilliant. The sort of movie that completely engrosses you from beginning to end. Agree with the Moon comparisson, for me it had a similar clausterphobic feel and tense atmosphere to it, it's hard to explain. The three main actors played it perfectly too it seems their star is on the rise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoë Sumra Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 We saw it this evening. I'm still shivering. Bearing in mind I don't watch horror, that was properly scary, and very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grand Moff Mithrandir Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Just watched this. I love big budget Sci fi as much as the next man but there's just something about small scale sci fi films that feels so right.All the actors were superb in this and I especially enjoyed Oscar Isaac's performance. On the ending. I think it was perfect and I didn't expect Ava to leave Caleb behind at all. Also I never suspected that Kyoko was an android too. I thought she was just a spy for some Asian tech company.My favourite film of the year so far. Definitely going to rewatch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castel Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Just saw recently too. I'm kicking myself that I didn't realize that Kyoko was an android after that dance scene. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kindly Old Man Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I enjoyed the film. I'd like to see more from Garland, and Isaac should definitely achieve the superstardom he looks like he's headed for. One thing that bothered me was that Caleb just seemed so amazingly stupid. I guess I could have understood more if he were some wide-eyed 17-year old prodigy with no life experience. But he's a 32-year old, with a good career, seemingly pretty stable. Is he really going to put the whole world at risk because of some high-school crush? I don't care if Ava was human (in terms of the test), and absolutely 'deserving' of freedom. You leave her locked up, she's way too dangerous. Especially considering who created her. If anyone watches POI, she's much more likely to turn out like Samaritan than The Machine. Note: this goes for AI of any gender. I also had an issue with the use of 'human' for this particular test. For the Turing test where you can't see the machine, it makes sense to have it convince you that it is human. For this test, he knows that she is not human. So she has to convince him that she is sentient, and then get him to disbelieve something he knows absolutely to be true. Why should the second test be part of testing for true AI? It seems like a completely separate test of how good a con man the machine is or how much of a dupe the tester is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Castel Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I enjoyed the film. I'd like to see more from Garland, and Isaac should definitely achieve the superstardom he looks like he's headed for. One thing that bothered me was that Caleb just seemed so amazingly stupid. I guess I could have understood more if he were some wide-eyed 17-year old prodigy with no life experience. But he's a 32-year old, with a good career, seemingly pretty stable. Is he really going to put the whole world at risk because of some high-school crush? I don't care if Ava was human (in terms of the test), and absolutely 'deserving' of freedom. You leave her locked up, she's way too dangerous. Especially considering who created her. If anyone watches POI, she's much more likely to turn out like Samaritan than The Machine. Note: this goes for AI of any gender. I also had an issue with the use of 'human' for this particular test. For the Turing test where you can't see the machine, it makes sense to have it convince you that it is human. For this test, he knows that she is not human. So she has to convince him that she is sentient, and then get him to disbelieve something he knows absolutely to be true. Why should the second test be part of testing for true AI? It seems like a completely separate test of how good a con man the machine is or how much of a dupe the tester is. Well, Caleb is the most generic nerd protagonist ever. And that's what Generic Nerd Protagonists do in films for the Female Love Interest. Also: Ava really isn't dangerous. I think that's just people who've seen too much scifi projecting. She's no ability that couldn't be replicated by a motivated human. She's not some Skynet-type AI plugged into a body that could reach out and cause trouble like Ultron. She's super-weak physically and we don't even know if she can charge outside the compound. When Nathan said that the AI would take over he didn't mean Ava personally, he meant someday. It's a bit like saying that a single plane is super dangerous because one day we'll inevitably build a B52 and nuke someone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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