Not Civil War, Alex Garland’s Sci-Fi Masterpiece with 92% on Rotten Tomatoes Is His Best Work

Before becoming one of the leading directors of our time, Alex Garland made a name for himself in the literary field. His debut novel The Beach was translated into 25 languages and later made into a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

The author wasn’t particularly involved in the film adaptation, but Danny Boyle found out about Garland and hired him as a screenwriter for his future innovative zombie horror film 28 Days Later, which became the writer’s ticket to the world of big cinema.

Now his fifth directorial project has been released – the large-scale military dystopia Civil War, A24's most expensive project and, according to many critics, Garland's best work.

Garland's Directing Career Began With an Undeniable Success

However, the beginning of Alex Garland's directorial career was no less successful – in 2014, his debut sci-fi thriller Ex Machina was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay and won a statuette for Best Visual Effects.

In such a short time, the film has managed to become a sci-fi classic, which is evidenced by its impressive 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

What is Ex Machina About?

In Ex Machina, Garland tells the intimate story of three characters – the artificial intelligence Ava, her eccentric creator, and a young programmer who must meet the robot and deliver a verdict in the Turing Test – whether Ava has real consciousness or is merely a program that has failed to "come to life" and become aware of itself.

It all starts with a harmless Turing test – the only difference is that Caleb knows for sure that he is facing a robot. But as the film progresses, the plot twists and turns, and the viewer becomes a participant in the test, trying to figure out who is a robot and who is not.

Ex Machina Is a Psychological Sci-Fi With Strong Script and Thought-Out Characters

Ex Machina is a psychological thriller that achieves its goal with elegant script solutions rather than fights and explosions. The cast is small, but every name in it would make any movie buff excited: Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander form a magnetic triangle.

Alex Garland has one important message for us: if you teach AI human communication, you should not forget its tools such as manipulation and deception. And in general, when we dream of a machine learning to love, we should not forget that it will also learn to hate.

Where to Stream Ex Machina?

Ex Machina is available to watch on Apple TV, Prime Video and Max.