Ex Machina - why so much hype?

Only back in the UK for a couple of days last week and I went to see a new Science Fiction film that had been heavily trailed and well-reviewed while I was away.  Ex Machina is a film that presents a view of the near future, a future in which true AI is beginning to dawn, and a billionaire entrepreneur (Nathan - played by Oscar Isaac) has created a female robot AI (Ava - Alicia Vikander) that he believes can be the next step in evolution.  To test his creation, Nathan brings in Caleb (a programmer played by Domhnall Gleeson) to carry out a series of Turing tests on the robot, and determine if she has consciousness.

This is a film that looks great, has a simple aesthetic and even simpler setting - the entire film (save for a few moments at the start and end) is set inside the underground bunker where Nathan has carried out his research.  The film consists of a series of interactions between characters.  Firstly Nathan and Caleb get to know each other and Caleb comes to realise what Nathan has created, then Caleb and Ava get to know each other as part of a series of tests, finally Caleb comes to realise the true nature of the relationship between Ava and Nathan, and must work out what is real and who to trust.

Now all of this is fine.  But I cannot understand how this film is sporting a 8.0 rating on IMDB at the moment.  Ex Machina is nothing more than a reasonably good episode of the Twilight Zone.  It's 45 minutes of television padded out into 2 hours through the use of moody shots of scenery and endless scenes of flat conversations that rarely build character, tension or plot.  The plot isn't rocket science.  At it's best it's a rehash of 2001 with a bit of misogyny thrown in and without the awe-inspiring vision of space and exploring the unknown.

Put simply; I just don't get the hype.  It's nothing new, and although the effects used to create Ava are clearly impressive, they're hardly a paradigm shift in film SFX - the are no Jurassic Park dinosaurs here.  Watch Ex Machina if you must, but please don't believe the hype.