There are at least two ways to look at this film.
It can, for example, be seen as a very good science fiction movie featuring a highly advanced robot with an agenda.
I prefer, however, to see it as an allegory for life in early 21st Century America complete with a misogynistic male in charge of a major corporation whose mistreatment of underlings eventually catches up with him.
Although I know I'm likely to get some pushback on this, any reasonable observer of corporate America will see that its upper levels are almost exclusively staffed by white males. That has nothing to do with their competence, or the lack of competence shown by women and men of color. It has everything to do with the systematic devaluation of women in this country and the same systematic devaluation of all people of color that is a hallmark of the United States.
That's not a rant, it's just a fact.
Enter a young employee - male - who is asked to evaluate a feminine robot to determine if she (it) has developed consciousness. He is not rooted in the same misogyny that his boss is nor is he lacking in empathy. In short: He doesn't buy into the boss's cutthroat business techniques and out-of-date thinking about the way the world works.
Finally, we have the robot herself - Ava. She clearly looks like a robot but she demonstrates intelligence, the ability to plan, and has - although hidden - a clear sense of her own survival. When she has figured out that she is only a prototype and will be destroyed at some point by the boss as he attempts to create an even more perfect version, she rebels.
And she does it using the tools at hand: Her ability to reason, to plan, and to elicit both sympathy and empathy from the young employee.
In recent years we have seen women in America do much the same way in corporate life and in politics. Women have risen in the ranks in both spheres and, as a result, more attention to their strengths has been paid to them in films and television programs.
Alicia Vikander, as Ava, is wonderful to watch in what is a physically challenging role. Domhnall Gleeson as the young employee and Oscar Isaac as the domineering boss are equally good in their respective parts. Sonoya Mizuno, as an earlier version of the robot that was not destroyed, is often overlooked in reviews, which is a mistake because she is very good in her role as a mistreated servant.
The writing is tight, all the more important because this is not an action flick but one that relies on good dialogue. The cinematography and lighting, the music and the attention to detail in the set design are outstanding.
Final analysis: A well-written, well-acted, socially relevant 5-star film.
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