The imprisonment of a dangerous evolving force takes form in that of a teenager named “Morgan”. Written by Seth Owen and directed by Luke Scott, the movie centers around Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) being not like any other girl. Created and raised as the third attempt at evolution in a secluded laboratory environment by a group of scientists, she defies nature with her super-human qualities. Walking and talking within one month and self-sufficient after just five-years-old, her rapid progression is remarkable, exceeding the expectations of her creators. After Morgan has a “tantrum” in which she viciously attacks and injures one of the scientists (Jennifer Jason Leigh), corporate troubleshooter Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is called in to determine whether or not to terminate Morgan and the program before she can cause any more havoc or escape to the outside world. When Morgan catches wind of this, she takes it upon herself to plan an escape that will endanger the outside world that shun her. “Morgan” is rated R for brutal violence and adult language.
If the name Luke Scott racks your brain for comparisons to another famous director with that very same last name, it’s because Luke is Ridley’s son. For their first major writing and directing efforts, the team of Owen and Scott present us with a ‘Nurture Vs Nature’ story with a Sci-fi twist and the results are neither edging into positive or negative territory. There were things and concepts that I enjoyed about “Morgan”, but it never fully develops itself beyond cliche action and lack of intelligence during the film’s final act. We have seen the idea of gifted lab rat before, so what makes this movie any different from something like last year’s awful “The Lazarus Effect”? First of all, this girl isn’t telekinetic. There’s very little about her that stands out as supernatural or logic-defying. For the most part, Morgan as a character stays very grounded, but just excels in the kind of things that we take for granted every day: fighting and intelligence. The movie doesn’t have a lot of time at 82 minutes to really grasp the capabilities of Morgan’s powers, but there’s certainly enough during the first act that builds the story first on its own.
As to where the other two acts in the film feel very rushed, the first act is a patient settling in period for the audience, when it comes to getting to know the many characters in this movie. Through forty minutes of expositional dialogue, we come to understand that these workers who’s soul mission is the study of Morgan, have come to be a family of sorts to her. Every decision that a higher up has for this child feels personal for this elusive staff, and that is where the movie really centers its moral dilemmas on. Would we as human beings treat someone as dangerous as this with any more leniency if it were our own child? A child who we’ve come to love and teach like one of our own? The film has great ability to offer an equally compelling argument for both sides of the coin in this movie, and sometimes the correct answer never really is just one thing. At the center of it all, Morgan is still very much a child, and one who harbors an immense amount of responsibility, considering she is evolving with each passing minute. The idea to make this character human won’t feel as exciting to someone who is seeking a character to move walls, but this makes the fight sequences a little more realistic.
This is the area of the film that really surprised me. Scott has a distinct editing style when it comes to shooting the two different fight scenes in this movie between Mara and Taylor-Joy. These are quick cuts, with brutally crunching fast chops, and it makes for some spellbinding fight choreography between the two leading ladies. While the fight scenes are impressive, there is a slight problem with these scenes in particular. The movie has a plot twist that it delivers in the very end of the movie, but anyone paying attention should see it coming from a mile away because of how these fights are dissected. A good plot twist can make or break a movie, sending the audience home on a particular grading scale about the movie. This one made me feel like Morgan, in that I felt like I knew the answer early on, and was waiting for everyone else to catch up to my intellect.
The visuals and set pieces clearly show a kin to the man who once perfected claustrophobia in “Alien”. While this movie isn’t as visually ambitious as that movie, Luke shapes a cloud of great doom and uncertainty for the men and women working at this medical facility, and that air of all of them being prisoner to Morgan certainly satisfies that notion of the hunter now being the prey. We are introduced to the characters in the movie just after Morgan does something harmful to another doctor. Besides the fact that the movie just kind of ignores what made Morgan snap in the first place for the entirety of the movie, we feel the character of Lee walking into a volcano that is just about to erupt. The lava being the emotional resistance from nature’s greatest reply to man playing god, and creating a genetically superior baby to anything our world has ever seen. Luke Scott might not accomplish everything he set out to do creatively, but his catering to crafting the perfect attitude per scene is something that I will be watching for in his future efforts.
I mentioned earlier that the movie can be praised for its ideas, but where it falters is in the sloppy execution that carefully places this film back into the box of complacent mediocrity. Last year’s “Ex-Machina” conquered plenty of the ideas and executions that “Morgan” currently finds itself performing with, but the problem here is that Owen never cracks the intelligence of a third dimension, settling for mundane, instead of ambitious ideas that could really carry such a character. Morgan’s intrigue comes from her ability to learn, but we never feel like her intelligence is getting the best of the people around her. There’s never enough depictions on just how powerful this character can really get, and because of that we have a movie who’s trailer showcases everything as big and powerful as it ever gets. Cleverly enough, the trailer cuts it to where it feels like Morgan has more telekinetic powers than she rightfully does, and the deception really limits the sci-fi in an otherwise shoddy drama flick.
Anna Taylor-Joy is leaps and bounds the very pulse of this movie. There’s so much that the young actress can display in a single look that others can’t say in a long-winded delivery of speech, and it’s in her haunting facials where I felt a chill down my spine on more than one occasion. Taylor-Joy’s Morgan can change her attitude in the drop of a hat, and it’s in that uncertainty where we feel compelled to pay attention and focus hard on her every word. Kate Mara gives one of her better performances today, despite being wooden for the entirety of the movie. There is a reason for this of course, so I didn’t fault her for it. The internal fire during the showdown of these two ladies represents human versus evolution, and it makes for a satisfying climax to play side-by-side with the impacting fight choreography that I already mentioned. Besides Taylor-Joy and Mara, Toby Jones, Paul Giamatti, and Rose Leslie each offer memorable, albeit brief performances, and their big name quality lends itself to greater meaning for a story that we have seen play out a hundred times.
“Morgan” can’t overcome its inabilities to take a stab at answering questions greater than the content. It’s a mediocre, forgettable thriller that attracts attention by including an A-list cast and big budget presentation. Its predictability dissolves what minimal suspense the movie instills by offering a tight room with very little exits. Very derivative of something far much greater.
5/10