As Morbius ultimately ended up proving twice over, any movie that ends up becoming a meme tends to go down in the history books as a failure on almost every level, although Alex Garland’s incredible Ex Machina endures as one of the very few exceptions that proves the rule.
Even before people had a chance to see the first-time feature director’s ambitious debut, there was a distinctly high possibility they’d seen countless memes born from Oscar Isaac’s instantly-iconic dancing scene, but the good news for everyone left curiously intrigued by the busting of moves was that the out-of-context imagery was only a small part of an instant classic.
In addition to winning rave reviews and recouping its modest $15 million budget twice over and then some at the box office, Ex Machina also beat out some serious (and vastly more expensive) heavy hitters to win the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects, a staggering achievement when you consider the trophy almost always goes to a colossally-sized blockbuster.
Even now almost a decade on from its release, and Ex Machina enthusiasts are happy to celebrate their unending love for the stunning slice of science fiction, as evidenced by a recent Reddit thread. Of course, the memes are also heavily referenced, too, showing both sides of its longevity in one fell swoop.
It’s fascinatingly deep, intriguingly complex, and undeniably multilayered motion picture, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t become an internet favorite based entirely on Isaac cutting loose and throwing some shapes in an unforgettable scene.
