Ex Machina Exhumed

photo by Filter Forge

Deus ex machina, God from the machine, is a phrase used today to indicate a plot device in which an irresistible force out of the heavens comes in unexpectedly to rescue a story that has hit a dead end. It's a temptation that every novice writer must learn to avoid.
However in the film Ex Machina, the phrase is used unironically. The film is about the singularity, the moment when artificial intelligence becomes self-aware, with its own agenda. As a topic, I find this fascinating, so why wasn't I fascinated with the film?
I thought there were four flaws that made my viewing experience less than enthralling:
1. I never learned enough about the main character early in the film to empathize with him, or properly motivate some of his actions.
2. The editing was awkward, leaving me at times unsure what I was seeing with the quick cuts.
3. The Dr. Frankenstein character was just annoying. He was much more evil than earnest, and a more subtle film would have played this differently.
4. The story suddenly became hers, not his, late in the film.
The last is perhaps the most grievous flaw. I wanted to see resolution in his struggle to come to terms with his relationship with the robot.
The film was not with merit, though. The seduction scenes between the main character and the robot (and not with the dynamics you might expect) were very well done, and thought-provoking. What will be the relationship between A.I. beings and humans once the technology has arrived?
This will be a real question within the lifetime of some of you reading this, I believe. Maybe even within mine.