Ex Machina by Alex Garland, Room by Lenny Abrahamson and Hanna by Joe Wright - Movie Review Example

 Analysis: Ex Machina by Alex Garland, Room by Lenny Abrahamson and Hanna by Joe Wright Directed by Alex Garland, Ex Machina, meets all the requirements needed for one to describe it as a great film. Various film aspects such as the mood, character development, lighting, sound, and tone are all done exceptionally, which makes the film a memorable one. Ex Machina’s plot is almost similar to the plots of other films such as Ghost in the Shell and Metropolis, but the Garland makes a number of distinctions which set the film apart from the others. What intrigued me most about Ex Machina is the use of philosophy and academics which add so much value to the film. Several thought experiments are used in the movie and as a philosophy scholar; this only increased my fascination with the film. In fact, the whole plot of the film is based on ‘Mary’s Room’, a thought experiment by Frank Jackson. Ava, the main female character in the film, is kept in Nathan’s house to determine if there is a way she can familiarise herself with all aspects of life on earth. As Ava continues to discover life around her, the viewers gradually come to the realisation that as much as Ava learns, there is a missing piece as she is not really human. Another character in the movie is Caleb. Caleb appears in the film after he is brought to Nathan’s house in disguise a lottery winner while working for Nathan in his Bluebook Company. Nathan wants Caleb to perform a Turing Test on Ava to see whether human beings can be convinced that robots are conscious. As the plot develops, it becomes clear to the viewers the many reasons why Ava is different from normal human beings. Caleb eventually visits the site where Ava was created, and Nathan eventually explains to Ava the functioning of her brain. Caleb takes pity on Ava and is determined to set her free. Nathan realises this and discloses the information to Ava. At this point, Ava’s human conscious is tested when Nathan points out that she is using Caleb to gain her freedom. At the end of the movie, Ava escapes leaving Caleb in Nathan’s home, and it is at this point where the viewers realise that Ava lacks human consciousness. Nathan, on the other hand, is a genius who betrays his humanity severally in the film. He has an ego and is a corrupted person who only represents the dark side of humanity. It is worth noting that just like several intelligent men; Nathan digs his own grave through his self-destructive nature. Nathan is likened to Ludwig Wuittgenstein, a German philosopher who was a brooding genius. The director of Ex Machina does an impressive job, and after watching the movie, viewers are provoked to ask whether robots have any consciousness. In a way, Garland wants to prove that robots cannot be conscious and this virtue has only been found in human beings. This is depicted by Ava’s betrayal of Caleb even though she was fully aware that Caleb was willing to set her free. Analysis: Room The room is directed by Lenny Abrahamson and was released last year. The plot is about a mother who goes through living hell as she tries to get freedom from captivity for her and her son. Right from the beginning, I found the movie to be captivating and so emotionally engaging. It is easy for the viewers to sympathise with the hardships the mother goes through. I can confidently say that this film is one of the few films I have watched recently which appeal to the emotions of the viewers in a deep manner. The director uses different film elements to assist the viewers to gain a better understanding of the film. In doing so, Abrahamson uses sound, lighting, costume and colour themes to set the mood of the audience. Most of the film is shot in a single room where Joy, the main character, and Jack, her son are held. The first half of the movie takes place in this room where both Joy and Jack have been held captive for several years. The viewers empathise with these two characters from the beginning as one comes to terms with the dehumanising conditions they are being forced to live in. The director makes use of a unique technique for engaging the viewers physically as they watch the film. This he does by using a small set and capturing the limited space of the room. Joy and Jack can barely move around and are forced to cramp together in the tiny space. This made me feel claustrophobic as I felt as if I was also captured like the film’s character. My need to move around became even more apparent when Joy is abused by her captor. Jack manages to escape from the room in the second half of the film. This is the first time the film moves to an exterior shot, and at this point, the audience feels as relieved as the movie characters. During the first half if the movie, the audience are put in a limited space as the film is set in a small single room where the Jack and Joy are held captive. Therefore, when Jack escapes from the shed, the viewers also feel as if they have escaped from imprisonment. With Jack’s help, Joy also escapes from the shed, and her happiness and relief are clearly seen and infectious to the audience. The viewers share in the joy and happiness of the main characters at this newly found freedom. I found myself shedding tears of joy in unison with Joy and Jack at this point of the film. In a way, watching Room has helped me appreciate the many things in life that I have previously taken for granted. These include valuable things such as the freedom of speech and movement. By the time the film ends, Abrahamson has invoked deep emotions in the audience, and one is left reflecting on the many things we take for granted. Personally, this movie has made me appreciate the freedom of movement that I currently enjoy without having to go through an ordeal as traumatising like the one experienced by Joy and Jack. This is one movie that I would proudly recommend to anyone who feels that life has been too hard on him/her. Analysis: Hanna Joe Wright is the intelligent director behind Hanna. It was a highly successful movie which made more than $60 worldwide and one of the main characters, Saoirse Ronan, received the award for the Best Performance in a Feature Film. The first thing that drew my attention when watching Hanna is the soundtrack. The sound is one of the widely used elements of filmmaking to set the mood of a film. The soundtrack in Hanna is composed by Chemical Brothers, and it contributes greatly in setting the mood of the movie. The plot is centred on the life of a young teenager, who is 15 years old and lives with her father in the woods. Hanna grew up with her father, Heller, in the woods isolated from the rest of the world. Heller trains her as an assassin, and Hanna’s skills are impressive. Heller has prepared Hanna by giving her backstories to use to explain herself in case people become suspicious. She is warned against flipping a switch as if she does this, a CIA operative known as Weigler will come looking for her and kill her. Eventually, Hanna flips the switch, and the cabin is filled with SWAT teams who take her in for questioning. Using the skills she was taught by Heller, Hanna manages to escape the questioning base and makes friends with a bohemian-British family who takes her in. However, Weigler’s men soon discover her location and Hanna has to leave the family to protect them. She makes attempts of escaping to an arcade with her Heller, but they fail. It is at this point that she discovers that Heller is not her father. Heller explains that she and others were an experiment to make super-soldiers with more power, faster reflexes, and no human emotions. The program was shut down and all the subjects killed, but Heller managed to rescue Hanna and escape to the woods with her where he raised her up as his daughter. Eventually, Weigler locates the two and Heller commits suicide in an attempt to get Hanna more time. In a later standoff, Hanna is shot in the hip by Weigler, but she also shoots him with a modified bow and arrow and injures him fatally. This scene is almost similar to the scene at the beginning where Hanna shoots a reindeer and later approaches it and shoots it with a pistol. Although it is not shown in the film, viewers are left with the feeling that Hanna managed to kill Weigler just like she killed the reindeer at the beginning of the film. Wright does a good job in this film especially with the soundtrack and the action scenes. These scenes keep the viewers glued to the screen, as one is eager to find out how the movie finally ends. However, I found a number of areas where a better job could have been done. For instance, no explanation is given for the termination of the experiment. Additionally, the movie does not explain why Heller lived an isolated life in the woods instead of starting life afresh somewhere else. Hanna could have been a better and more intriguing film if the narrative had been explored further. Read More