15 Greatest Hard Science Fiction Movies Of All Time

6. Her

Ex Machina
Warner Bros. Pictures

Anyone who's spend a length of time on Tinder will probably have some sympathy for the desire to have an artificial intelligence partner - why go through all the trouble of dating when you can just get a dismembered robot voice to tell you what you want to hear?

It's this idea of AI developing to the point where it can convincingly emulate real people which inspired writer-director Spike Jonze to make Her, a film about a man called Theodore Twombly (Joaquim Phoenix) who falls in love with his computer operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). As their relationship develops, Twombly finds himself struggling to engage with the real people in his life.

As well being a sharply observed commentary on relationships in the modern world, Her is also a fascinating look at computer learning and the ability of artificial intelligence to effectively simulate human emotions, proving that hard science fiction doesn't have to feature shiny tech in order to say something relevant about how technology can impact us on a psychological level.

In this post: 
Ex Machina
 
Posted On: 
Contributor
Contributor

Andrew Dilks hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.