It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Scenario is not bad but acting, the music and sound effects, and the unrelated emotional scenes are terrible.

I'm reading a lot of reviews on here on how great this movie was. Well I guess we don't have the same definition of "great" because I just thought it was an average movie. The idea of the story was not bad, even though we've all seen it before, but in general it was poorly executed. It didn't look very professional to me. The acting was just above average with no characters that will blow you away with their acting performances. What bothered me the most in this movie was the soundtrack. It didn't bring any suspense or punch, instead it was very monotone and made me want to fall asleep. A good movie needs a good soundtrack and in this case it was clearly one of the weakest points. For a sci-fi movie you would expect a bit of special effects to give it something special but even there you will be left disappointed. So in conclusion, the idea was not bad but we all seen better in the same genre.

In 2015, I wrote a review of Alex Garland movie Ex Machina. The Machine came out in 2014 but I discovered it only recently. That raises some questions. More than my oversight this could be blamed on the Hollywood bias which is basically a function of the marketing budget. Alicia Vikander appeared on Conan to promote Ex Machina. No one talked about The Machine in big media.As reviewer my intention is mostly to get people to watch the movies that I feel should be watched. I usually don't write critiques but I had to criticize Ex Machina. I saw through the deception of calling it a groundbreaking low budget science fiction film. Well, The Machine was made on a fraction of that budget but is immensely more enjoyable. Others may argue that the plots of these two movies take different directions. However, I insist that there are significant similarities. The Machine came out a year before Ex Machina so obviously it is more original but that's not giving enough credit to writer/director Caradog James. Cinema is a medium and you can judge a movie by three factors: Plausibility of the plot, Handling of the Subject Matter and Entertainment Value. The Machine is a superior film in all three cases. The environment in which the story takes place in The Machine is more likely for such AI R&D to take place making it more plausible. It does not try to educate the viewer with unnecessary exposition and delves right into the plot like a pro sci-fi story. Its no rehashed Frankenstein either. Instead of blatantly feeding on the horror of AI taking over the world, it gives enough reason to embrace the future. It dares to question whether we should be fearful of our own creation or try to guide it to become truly better than us. Lastly, in the third act it turns into an all out action movie with lots of kicking, stabbing, shooting. What's not to like!? The music score and the visual tone reminded me a bit of Blade Runner. There is probably more to it but I can't elaborate without giving out spoilers. I am in love with Caity Lotz from her roles in the Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow. She has some phenomenal physical prowess and acumen for pulling off action films on her own. I'm putting it in the list of movies that deserve a sequel. Maybe they can turn it into a franchise and Lotz can return in her role. The Machine is funny at times but comes out as pretty badass at the end. While, the viewer never stops feeling sympathetic toward her. In a way The Machine 'tricks' everyone to see her as human. I say that passes the Turing test! Watch it and decide for yourself.

I very much enjoyed this. There's nothing particularly novel about the story line, which is a standard AI old chestnut about what happens when AIs start getting rambunctious. But the script is literate, the leads quite attractive (especially Dennis Lawson as a baddie), the direction sharp, and the photography brilliant, so it's all eminently watchable. Caity Lotz in particular is a revelation--she's great. Plus there's the fun wrinkle of watching the AI soldiers troop around, as it were, speaking their own language, wondering what they're saying (although as the film goes on it starts becoming clear). Predictable, but in a good way.