EX MACHINA Blu-ray Review

Alex Garland’s psychological thriller Ex Machina, is coming out on blu-ray and DVD July 14. I had the chance to get my hands on an early blu-ray copy for reviewing purposes and here’s my review of the Ex Machina blu-ray release…

Review

Ex Machina is a film about artificial intelligence but it’s not your typical A.I. film. There’s no going into the future or having a bunch of cyborgs taking over the world in this one, the one is about A.I. coming to life and the A.I. being able to feel emotions and think not by programming but based on its actual feelings. After winning a competition at work, Caleb (Domhall Gleeson) gets the chance to take part in an A.I. study with the company’s CEO Nathan (Oscar Issac). The catch to the contest is that he’s sworn to secrecy and is completely cut off from the outside world, meaning no internet, phones or even writing letters. When Caleb meets his A.I. study Ava (Alicia Vikander) things become more interesting and suspenseful.

Ex Machina  is the kind of film that will make you think. It will have the wheels in your head spinning, thinking about how the world really is when it comes to technology and how technology runs most of our lives today. The film doesn’t have a large cast but it’s the quality that matters and not quantity. The acting is really good by all of the actors from Oscar Issac to Sonoya Mizuno who plays Kyoko. Though the suspense runs throughout the entire film, it picks up even more with the last 20-30 minutes of the film when it’s twist after twist and pretty hard to predict. Unpredictability is always best when it comes to any kind of art.

Bonus Features

If you have read any of my blu-ray or dvd reviews in the past, you will know that I’m big on bonus features. The bonus features really hit the mark with this release. The extras that are included are “Through the Looking Glass: Creating Ex Machina,” which is a 5-part featurette, SXSW Q & A with Cast and Crew and Eight Behind-the-Scenes Vignettes. These extras all deliver and are the kinds of bonus features that need to be included with a film like this. All of the questions you had about the film are answered by the people who made the film themselves.

Here is the technical parts of the blu-ray and dvd:

Rating: R for graphic nudity, language, sexual references and some violence
Type: Theatrical Release
Genre: Thriller/Sci Fi/Fantasy
Blu-ray Closed-Captioning: English SDH
DVD Closed-Captioning: English
Subtitles: English and Spanish
Feature Run Time: 108 minutes
Blu-ray Format: 1080P High Definition 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1)
DVD Format: 16×9 Widescreen (2.40:1)
Blu-ray Audio: English DTS:X™ Audio, DTS Headphone:X™ Audio, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio™ and English 5.1 DTS Digital Surround™ Audio
DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital

Verdict

Ex Machina is a film worth owning on blu-ray. It has a great story, it has suspense, humor and delivers with the bonus features.

I give the Ex Machina Blu-ray release 9 fridges out of 10.