Trying to compile a list of the best sci-fi movies of the 21st century is far from easy, and there's plenty of debate about what should top the list - but some movies are likely to be present on basically any list. Ex Machina is one of those, a mind-twisting thriller from 2015.
Now, it's been added to the streaming catalogue on Amazon Prime Video in the UK, where US viewers could already catch it, making it easier than ever for Prime subscribers to catch this brilliant movie.
Ex Machina stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, an employee of the world's biggest tech company who wins an internal competition to go stay with the CEO (Oscar Isaac as Nathan) for a week, at his remote and high-tech retreat. Upon arriving, it doesn't take long to become clear that Nathan is a unique thinker.
More than that, he's working on secretive AI projects that include humanoid robots - with the most important being Ava (Alicia Vikander). As Caleb gets to know Ava better, he starts to sense that he might be being manipulated not just by Nathan, but also potentially by her, and the movie ratchets up the tension really impressively.
It's also full of questions about free will, identity and consciousness, with some really chilling moments in its latter stretches as supposedly subservient robots start to test the boundaries of what they'd do to survive.
The whole thing also looks really amazing, with carefully-composed lighting and tight sets that make it feel way more tied-down and believable than some other more epic-scale sci-fi films. That means it would pair well with any of the displays on our list of the best TVs, in case you're mulling an upgrade.
Ex Machina didn't necessarily act as the single breakout film for any of Vikander, Gleeson or Isaac, but it definitely helped all three of their stars to rise, and it's amazing to watch and remember the various impressive things each has gone on to do. It's the sort of movie that acts as a great advert for Prime Video's claims to be the best streaming service on the market, with an impressive 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes serving to underline its quality even further.
