What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

Do you mean if Caleb's plan had worked out, and he and Ava would have left together? That's what everything seems to be moving towards, but I love how Nathan is one step ahead of him on that, and then of course Ava is a step ahead of both of them. That's the only thing, though, that seems like an "other way" to me, compared to the actual ending. Or do you mean simply that she doesn't bring Caleb with her? That's truly horrific, and one up's our expectations (and his expectations) about her. She really ends up being a great villain and thus plays into our fears of sentient AI getting too powerful (a major concern and question of the whole film).

Some critics have suggested that it should have ended when she walks up the stairs, without showing her leaving and living in a city and so forth. Is that what you mean, maybe? I still like that, though, because it has so many (scary) implications for what her influence could be in the actual world. And I think she says something earlier in the film (can't remember the exact dialogue) that refers to that kind of thing, so I like that as a callback and reference to the earlier foreshadowing.

Anyway, let me know what you mean by that. I'd love to discuss this amazing movie a little more.

Well it's as you thought. I think that Ava could have taken Caleb with her. The way it ends is awesome and does have some tight foreshadowing as well when Nathan hints that maybe she's just pretending to love him for some kind of ulterior motive. But if she took Caleb with her that would still be there. No filter, no wink, no last second horror movie cliche twist ending would be needed, the fear that she isn't sincere would be built into the DNA of the film either way. That is our big fear now, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking - we know that AI is being talked about in hushed tones so that feeling is still there. In fact in some ways I thought that the mystery of it would be tighter if she brought him with her. You wouldn't know for sure and it would tell you something about yourself based on what you thought really happened. I love vague endings. The way it plays, where you get to know every detail, is great too and makes it a little more like a horror movie. It would still have that quality the other way but there would also be a weird machine/human love (or not) mix playing in there too for those who see the film that way.

I agree though that it was cool when Caleb outsmarted Nathan... that shouldn't happen based on the Narrative they created for Nathan but perhaps the drinking just got out of control. Either way when it was revealed that Caleb had outsmarted him I was truly surprised... but if it ended with Nathan winning that round and Caleb being outsmarted then either disappearing or going home with nothing while Nathan stays alone in the woods with his crazy experiment... well that could be awesome too. That would be freaky in a different way, it would hint that maybe we're worse and the machines should take control. There's something vaguely horrific about that narrative too.

I've thought of several different ways for the story to end and they almost all work given the proper treatment. I just thought that the first 75% of the film was so perfect they could have gone several ways and each of them seemed interesting to me and worthy of exploration. It's surprisingly fertile ground for a film... even if it has been worked over in novel format an awful lot. In film it feels different and because they didn't just rip off an old book (which could easily have been done) it gave the proceedings a very novel effect and I wanted more.

I don't say this because I wanted a different ending (although the film is set up to make you want the romance of course, which I still think could be just as harrowing as the actual ending so the ending they choose works because it was the one they chose... right?) I say this because even though I thought the ending was great... perfect even. The film also felt original and well done to such a degree that several different equally powerful endings could have been done. It's an even bigger compliment because several great movies rely on their perfect ending to get there (from Citizen Kane to Barton Fink) but this one doesn't feel like that to me. It feels like much of it's greatness is in such a beautiful set up that creates an incredibly versatile base to build from.

When it started to look like Caleb and Ava were going to make it out together, I was pretty disappointed and was lamenting that a movie I was otherwise enjoying was going to have to standard movie ending. But the second she locked Caleb in that room, my whole perspective immediately flipped, and I was in. It was a weird experience to have my feelings about a movie so suddenly changed while watching it.