Science fiction at its most seductive

Dir: Alex Garland

With: Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Oscar Isaac

Runtime: 108 minutes

AS befits a psychological thriller that features much mucking around with science, Alex Garland's whip-smart and stylish psychological thriller manages the neat trick of being in two places at once. While set in the shiny, high tech near future, the men and the motives it explores could hail from any point in grubby old human history. This is what makes it so compelling; that and the very cool sight of a robot made flesh.

Produced by Glasgow-born Andrew Macdonald (Trainspotting, The Last King of Scotland), Ex Machina is the directorial debut of Alex Garland, previously best known as the writer of 28 Days Later and Sunshine. It does not feel like a debut though, such is the confidence with which Garland snares the viewer and keeps them close, the better to keep his story's secrets.

Front of camera is a trio of actors who between them have greedily snaffled some of the choicest parts of the year. There is Oscar Isaac (also to be seen this week in A Most Violent Year and, later, Star Wars), plus Ireland's Domhnall Gleeson (coming soon to Brooklyn and Star Wars) and Alicia Vikander (excellent in A Royal Affair and Testament of Youth, outstanding here). Together, Garland and his cast keep the show on the road in a slick enough fashion to gloss over any imperfections that arise along the way.

Gleeson plays Caleb, a computer programmer at some nameless tech conglomerate in the US. A message flags up on his computer screen one day to tell him he has won the golden ticket of spending a week with the big boss at his home in the mountains. Caleb is duly impressed by the boss's gaff, a glass and wood mansion with its own waterfall in the back garden. He is even more awe-struck by the head honcho himself. Nathan (Isaac) is a cool guy. A child genius turned tech gazillionaire, Nathan likes to play hard and works hard, never more so than on his current project - Artificial Intelligence. Nathan is after nothing less than the holy grail of AI, a robot that can pass the Turing Test by convincing an examiner that they are talking to a fellow human and not a mess of wires and circuits.

Nathan has a treat for Caleb - he can conduct the test on a machine called Ava (played by Vikander), and report straight to the boss himself. It is the chance of a lifetime, one an ambitious young man would be crazy to turn down. Or crazy to take up.

Gleeson (Frank, Calvary) has the skinny young ingenue act down to a T, but here he gives his character a few more layers, all of them interesting. Isaac's character, with a build like a bull and a nature to match, is as much alluring as disturbing. Here is the mortal who who wants to play god with nature, to bring about nothing less than an evolution revolution. Between the two of them, Gleeson and Isaac might have taken up all the screen space and the interest, but not this time. Not with Vikander and a costume job that offers up one of the most arresting visions one will see in the cinema this year. Much in the same way the robot in Metropolis wowed the age, so Ava is a sight to see. Half fake flesh, half transparent, topped off with Vikander's stunning face, she is mesmerising. Question is: what will Caleb make of her?

From this three way relationship between the domineering boss, the captivating test subject and the wide-eyed student, Garland concocts a tale that builds by twist and turn, always trying to stay one step ahead of the audience. If he goes too far at times, or is not quite convincing enough, the flaw is easily forgotten in the great rush and sweep of things. This is science fiction at its most seductive, creating a world set in the future that seems frighteningly close at hand. A film to marvel at, with ideas to argue over, all the way home.