Okay so I've just watched Ex Machina with Matthew, Yingchuan and ZJ (althought they left earlier), and whoa.. I have to say this is one of the best movies I've watched thus far in 2015! (Considering the fact that the movies that I had high hopes for turned out to be really really disappointing.)
It's rare to have my expectations exceeded when it comes to films given that I have been conditioned by countless films before which just rides on cliches after cliches with twists that you can see from a mile away. This film does well to avoid plot twists, and instead capitalizes on the fact that film audience in 2015 are well-attuned to such a pattern, therefore choosing to appeal to them in a different manner; Making them question if the film is indeed going to end in such a twist, or is there something truly unexpected as the show goes on.
To me, a good film is one that can engage and excite the audience in the sense that they'd be excited to find out what happens next, fulfilling that curiosity, yet leaving more questions even when the show finally ends. This show ends in a manner in that it leaves no loose ends, but you as an audience would still have so many questions unanswered. For me it was more slanted towards the fact if "Ava" was indeed capable of feeling love, and did she truly love the protagonist in any point of the show? If she wasn't, does it make her any less of a human in the sense that after all, are we humans not guilty of manipulating others to acheive our means as well?
Props to Alicia Vikander though, I find myself truly intrigued by this Ava character. The fact that she was able to smile with such depicted happiness after being free from her cage without malice, and yet appear to show no signs of remorse having killed her creator moments ago really makes me wonder: "Is this a robot version of a sociopath? Or was it because Ava has justified her murder as a necessity and therefore was already prepared to mete out her actions, therefore feeling no guilt nor remorse for the creator that has kept her in captivity?" "Did Ava choose to not kill Caleb because it would not bring about any benefits to her? Was she really that pragmatic? Or is there something more?"
Then I begin to ponder, "Does morals truly represent what it means to be a human?", "Are morality and pragmatism on two different extremes?"
We live in a society where success/accomplishments is deemed to represent happiness, and yet pragmatism seems to be a trait that successful people seem to always have. Can one be happy without morals? Can someone choose to be pragmatic yet moral? What happens when people are torn between both choices? What really defines a human? Is it not the capacity to feel happiness?
Or am I going about this wrongly? Because after all, morals might not necessarily equate to emotions. And yet, conscience does affect a person's emotions, and therefore does that not mean that if you have something weighing on your conscience, you can never be truly happy?
So perhaps, only when someone lives a hedonistic lifestyle devoid of morals can they be truly happy/joyous. But that doesn't sit right with me as well.
Something is missing, and it's stopping me from reaching a proper conclusion and I dont know that the fuck it is. Sighh.. This is always what happens to be train of thought after I watch a good show.
Whatever.
