Finally saw Ex Machina (spoilers)

Finally saw it last night. It was very thought provoking and brilliant at times.

Nathan was an excellent character and Isaac played him very well. I thought it was brilliant that the first we see of him is when he is exercising, hammering away at the punching bag, and that this motif was continued throughout the film. It established a level of tension and volatility that worked well to facilitate he and Caleb's precarious relationship. I really felt as though Nathan might start hitting Caleb at any moment after a disagreement or just because Nathan was drunk most of the time.

Nathan is really the only reason that the film ends the way it does, but he presents a bit of a paradox. I don't think Caleb would have helped Ava to escape if he didn't think that Nathan was evil. Yes, Caleb falls for Ava, but I really think that his willingness to help her is motivated more by Nathan's nature, not hers. At the same time, Ava reveals that she is capable of hate, which seems to indicate intelligence and sentience, but is it real or is it a programmed response to Nathan's obviously antagonistic behavior, or a specific disposition intentionally programmed by Nathan? In the end, Nathan outsmarts himself, as does Caleb, and the question remains: Does Ava kill Nathan because she's programmed to escape, coldly and at all costs, or does she kill him because he's a monster who intends to continue her imprisonment before deactivating her?

Ultimately, the film flies in the face of the Turing test, Nathan and Caleb's respected criterion for determining intelligence. It is an illustration that the test is flawed, and more importantly, so are the people who thought it up. Apparently, fooling a human is not a great achievement, and is certainly not proof of sentience. lol.

Of course, Ava passes this test, but in my opinion, she fails to prove that she is intelligent and sentient, as she coldly carries out the result that she was programmed to achieve. Her stabbing of Nathan is intentionally no different than that of the more obvious, lesser android, and the manner in which she murders Nathan is the first real indication of her cold, calculating nature. You could argue that he was a monster who intended to effectively kill her, but she also dispassionately leaves Caleb trapped in the compound, presumably to die, and enters a world in which she has no means of surviving. She wins, at all costs, including her own life.

The film seems to be saying that humans aren't ready to create true AI, because even the most brilliant of us can't even accurately define it or determine its necessary characteristics.