Ex Machina (2015)
There is nothing more human than the will to survive.
Caleb, a coder at the world's largest internet company, wins a competition to spend a week at a private mountain retreat belonging to Nathan, the reclusive CEO of the company. But when Caleb arrives at the remote location he finds that he will have to participate in a strange and fascinating experiment in which he must interact with the world's first true artificial intelligence, housed in the body of a beautiful robot girl.
In Ex Machina, consciousness is carried by machines — a plane of “AI confinement test”. The story fights on E8/E9 of the E0–E14 reality ladder, compressing consciousness, power, ethics, control, technology.
Same rung, same subject
Films fighting at the same level of reality, about the same things.
Same subject, different rung
The same preoccupations examined at another scale — one mind versus a nation.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)E7/E12 · rare rung · power, technology
Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)E7/E10 · rare rung · power, technology
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)E11/E14 · rare rung · power, technology
WarGames (1983)E12/E14 · rare rung · control, technology
Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)E6/E11 · rare rung · power, technology
King Kong vs. Godzilla (1962)E6/E12 · rare rung · power, technologyAlso bends a rule of reality
Other films that change a standing rule of their world — ranked first by those bending it at the same rung.
Transcendence (2014)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Atlas (2024)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
The Lawnmower Man (1992)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Lucy (2014)alters at E8 · same rung · loose
Ghost in the Shell (1995)alters at E8 · same rung · rigorous
Outside the Wire (2021)alters at E8 · same rung · looseAlso hides consciousness here
Other films that move a human interior onto the same kind of thing.
Morgan (2016)consciousness in machines · synthetic bio‑lab
Terminator Genisys (2015)consciousness in machines · AI apocalypse
Ra.One (2011)consciousness in machines · game‑world invasion
Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)consciousness in machines · superhero defense
Blade Runner (1982)consciousness in machines · future corporate dystopia
I, Robot (2004)consciousness in machines · AI dystopiaSame subject, different mask
The same preoccupations carried by a different kind of thing — grief told through the dead, an animal, a machine.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)consciousness in animals · ethics, power
Victor Frankenstein (2015)consciousness in monsters · ethics, power
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996)consciousness in animals · control, power
Bedazzled (2000)consciousness in monsters · control, technology
Aliens in the Attic (2009)consciousness in aliens · control, technology
Dragon Ball: Curse of the Blood Rubies (1986)consciousness in aliens · power, technology
