10 Sci-Fi Movie Endings You Can No Longer See
8. Ava's POV Reveal - Ex Machina
Alex Garland's terrific sci-fi thriller Ex Machina almost wrapped up with an even more provocative ending.
In the final cut of the movie, android Ava (Alicia Vikander) escapes Nathan Bateman's (Oscar Isaac) secure facility, leaves poor Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) trapped inside, and rides a helicopter to civilisation where she's able to effortlessly blend in.
The original cut offered a slight tweak on this grim finale, by presenting greater insight into precisely how Ava views the world.
When Ava speaks with the helicopter pilot before boarding, we would briefly see events from Ava's perspective, revealing that she interpreted the pilot's words as nothing more than "sounds and pulses."
Basically, Ava wasn't approximating traditional human interaction nearly as closely as Nathan and Caleb - and we, the audience - assumed.
Her interpretation of the world around her was totally abstract and unique, and whether that qualifies as consciousness or not is left for the viewer to decide.
Garland has never confirmed why the ending was changed, though Oscar Isaac theorised that "maybe it just didn't work in the cut." Either way, it's certainly something that fans would love to see one day.