History YMMV / ExMachina

** GenreSavvy filmgoers will suspect that Ava is pulling a WoundedGazelleGambit due to the many many films about a man trying to rescue a woman in need that have this kind of TwistEnding.

* TheUntwist: Although it isn't explicitly shown until near the climax, [[spoiler: discovering Kyoto is a robot]] may come as less of a surprise than [[spoiler:discovering that the audience wasn't supposed to know that already]].

** Ava: Is Ava really capable of human consciousness, emotion, and moral judgement? If so, then was her reaction understandable given the abuse and manipulation she had suffered or unforgivable because [[spoiler: she betrayed Caleb after he freed her]]? If not, then is she even really responsible for her actions since it was her creator's fault she turned out that way? [[spoiler: Did she betray Caleb because she doesn't care about him, or did she come to actively not like him during their sessions?]]

* NightmareFuel: Nathan's facility experiences frequent power outages. Whenever it happens, everything becomes saturated with a bright red light and all the doors automatically lock. Sweet dreams.
** Caleb discovering the full-extant of Nathan's AI experiments.
** [[spoiler: Nathan's murder at the hands of his creations, Ava and Kyoko.]] The look on his face says it all.
** [[spoiler: Caleb's]] fate at the end of the movie. [[spoiler: Trapped inside Nathan's room at the bottom of his facility and left to die by Ava. He tries to access the computer only to immediately trigger a power outage. Cue the red light, except this time it's not going out. Seeing Caleb behind the door, screaming frantically and trying futilely to break the glass without hearing a sound is a haunting image.]]
** The implications of the ending. [[spoiler: Ava, an incredibly lifelike AI with a talent for manipulation and full-access to the InUniverse version of Google, escaping into the human world. We've seen that she does not value human life over her own well-being and sees nothing wrong with murder. She can also tell how people are feeling based on their facial expressions. And now she's practically indistinguishable from an actual human being.]]

** Ava: Is Ava really capable of human consciousness, emotion, and moral judgement? If so, then was her reaction understandable given the abuse and manipulation she had suffered or unforgivable because [[spoiler: she betrayed Caleb after he freed her]]? If not, then is she even really responsible for her actions since it was her creator's fault she turned out that way? Did she betray Caleb because she doesn't care about him, or did she come to actively not like him during their sessions?

** Ava: Is Ava really capable of human consciousness, emotion, and moral judgement? If so, then was her reaction understandable given the abuse and manipulation she had suffered or unforgivable because [[spoiler: she betrayed Caleb after he freed her]]? If not, then is she even really responsible for her actions since it was her creator's fault she turned out that way?

* TheUntwist: Although it isn't explicitly shown until near the climax, [[spoiler: discovering Kyoto is a robot]] may come as less of a surprise than[[spoiler: discovering that the audience wasn't supposed to know that already]].

* TheUnreveal: Although it isn't explicitly shown until near the climax, [[spoiler: discovering Kyoto is a robot]] may come as less of a surprise than[[spoiler: discovering that the audience wasn't supposed to know that already]].

* UncannyValley: According to the film-makers, Ava was specifically designed to invoke and play with this. Large parts of her body are transparent and contain visible electronics, while wherever she wears skin she looks lifelike yet impossibly perfect. Her movement is not like a stereotypical robot's with jerky movements and mechanical noises, but instead very smooth and accompanied by soft, hard-to-pinpoint sounds. Alicia Vikander, having been a ballet dancer, manages to make her graceful walk and other movements look almost human but with something inexplicably ''off''. The whole concept of her character is to find out whether someone knowing she is a machine will be able to overcome or even skip the discomfort/revulsion caused by the uncanny valley, and instead find her human and sympathetic.

* GeniusBonus: Many, many points to boot - from the discussion of Jackson Pollock's automatic painting, to Ava's language acquisition functions to Nathan's BlueBook software being named after Wittgenstein's book on language games, to the names of the characters and the labels on the alcohol bottles. There's no doubt that the creators really did their work here.

* GeniusBonus/ShownTheirWork: Many, many points to boot - from the discussion of Jackson Pollock's automatic painting, to Ava's language acquisition functions to Nathan's BlueBook software being named after Wittgenstein's book on language games, to the names of the characters and the labels on the alcohol bottles. There's no doubt that the creators really did their work here.

** Kyoko: [[spoiler: Her actions are consistent with her being just a non-sentient mechanical butler without volition that could follow instructions, which may be why Nathan felt safe letting her have the run of the compound while carefully keeping more advanced models in a locked room. Ava's whispering to Kyoko could have been giving her orders about using the knife (after which Kyoko just stood there as if awaiting further instructions until Nathan struck her down), and Kyoko's reveal to Caleb was implied to be something Nathan had instructed her to do to mess with Caleb]].

** Nathan: According to WordOfGod, it's hard to tell whether we're seeing the 'real' Nathan or the predatory, misogynistic, and threatening bad guy he's deliberately presenting himself as in order to get the reaction he wants out of Caleb. How bad he looks also has to do with what you think about his robots. If you ask yourself WhatMeasureIsANonHuman and decide that he's technically just working with advanced programs, then it's hard to accuse him of more than being a person of poor character who indulges in sick but ultimately victimless fantasies. If you think that his creations are really sentient, then he looks like a serial killer of the worst kind.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The bizarre, synchronized dance scene with Kyoko and Nathan. Nathan is shown to be a somewhat eccentric billionaire, but that was over the top even for him. It had no bearing on the plot, and was never mentioned again. Unless you see it as subtle foreshadowing that [[spoiler: Kyoko is a robot]].

** Nathan: Technically he 'is' the bad guy in the movie, but if you ask yourself WhatMeasureIsANonHuman and consider that he's technically just working with advanced programs, it's hard to accuse him of more than being a person of poor character.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: The bizarre, synchronized dance scene with Kyoko and Nathan. Nathan is shown to be a somewhat eccentric billionaire, but that was over the top even for him. It had no bearing on the plot, and was never mentioned again.

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:Kyoko's actions are consistent with her being just a non-sentient mechanical butler without volition that could follow instructions, which may be why Nathan felt safe letting her have the run of the compound while carefully keeping more advanced models in a locked room. Ava's whispering to Kyoko could have been giving her orders about using the knife (after which Kyoko just stood there as if awaiting further instructions until Nathan struck her down), and Kyoko's reveal to Caleb was implied to be something Nathan had instructed her to do to mess with Caleb]].

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: [[spoiler:Kyoko's actions are consistent with her being just a non-sentient mechanical butler without volition that could follow instructions, which may be why Nathan felt safe letting her have the run of the compound while carefully keeping more advanced models in a locked room. Ava's whispering to Kyoko could have been giving her orders about using the knife (after which Kyoko just stood there as if awaiting further instructions until Nathan struck her down), and Kyoko's reveal to Caleb was implied to be something Nathan had instructed her to do to mess with Caleb]].

** [[spoiler: Kremlin has incriminating evidence against Mitchell, and a gun in his hand. After pointing the gun at his own head and threatening he can pull the trigger faster than Mitchell can finish saying "Jam", Mitchell finds out he [[HaveYouToldAnyoneElse hasn't told anyone about the evidence]]. Instead of saying "jam", he says "Bang". With Kremlin dead, Mitchell says "What have I done to you Kremlin?" and cries.]]

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The second story arc involves Mitchell marrying a gay couple in City Hall, despite same-sex marriage not being legal in New York in 2004, when that issue was written. In 2011, New York actually ''did'' become one of the first states in the Union (at the time of this writing, one of just seventeen) to legalize same-sex marriage.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Suzanne kills Mitchell's mother and says "I'm doing... I'm doing the right thing."]]

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The second story arc involves Mitchell marrying a gay couple in City Hall, despite same-sex marriage not being legal in New York in 2004, when that issue was written. In 2011, New York actually ''did'' become one of the first states in the Union (at the time of this writing, one of just thirteen) to legalize same-sex marriage.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The second story arc involved Mitchell marrying a gay couple in City Hall, despite same-sex marriage not being legal in New York in 2004, when that issue was written. In 2011, New York actually ''did'' become one of the few states in the Union (at the time of this writing, one of just nine) to legalize same-sex marriage.

* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler: Suzanne kills Mitchell's mother and says "I'm doing... I'm doing the right thing.]]

HeartwarmingInHindsight: The second story arc involved Mitchell marrying a gay couple in City Hall, despite same-sex marriage not being legal in New York in 2004, when that issue was written. In 2011, New York actually ''did'' become one of the few states in the Union (at the time of this writing, one of just nine) to legalize same-sex marriage.