Life Finds A Way: Jurassic Park vs Ex Machina

I rewatched Ex Machina (2014) this week, and one bizarre thing that struck me were the similarities to Jurassic Park.

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• Jurassic Park is about an eccentric billionaire using technology that may be available in the near future to resurrect dinosaurs. Ex Machina is about an eccentric billionaire using technology that may be available in the near future to create true AI.
• Both movies are told from the point of view of a respected professional(s) at the top of their field being chosen to experience this new wonder before it's revealed to the world.
• Both movies have their hero take a helicopter ride to a secluded location, and end with a helicopter picking up the survivor(s).
• In both movies, the creator has an ulterior motive for choosing them. In JP, Hammond needs to get the nervous insurance company off his back by showing that the park is safe. In EM, Nathan needs an independent person to be one half of a Turing test, and cheated a little by designing Ava's face based on Caleb's porn preferences.
• We see that the creator is not quite as in control as they think. JP opens with a worker being killed by a raptor after a botched cage transfer. EM has a secure compound plagued by mysterious power cuts that we later find out are being secretly controlled by Ava, who has learned how to reverse her wireless charging to overload the grid.
• Both movies have their creations escape after a power cut. In both movies, the power cut was orchestrated by a hacker.
• Both movies have a theme that life cannot be contained. In JP, the dinosaurs break out of their confinement and also find a way to reproduce using gender-switching genes. In EM, the beautiful and seductive Ava breaks out of captivity after showing that she is a lot more intelligent and manipulative than either her creator or tester thought she could be.
• As a final touch that convinced me the makers of EM were aware of the connection to JP: There is an iconic can of Barbassol shaving cream that Nedry uses to steal dino embryos. In EM, Caleb has the exact same can of Barbassol and it is featured quite prominently in several shots. Also, the piano music playing in the lobby when Caleb enters the compound for the first time is very similar to the Jurassic Park main theme.

Anyway, thanks for reading, and any feedback appreciated!

Submitted April 18, 2021 at 01:40AM by cerberaspeedtwelve https://ift.tt/2OYvHNR