Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) has arrived at a remote bunker/laboratory in the middle of the woods, sent by Corporate (what or who remains to be seen) to check up on Morgan, the subject of an experiment (maybe not the first?) that has resulted in some…unexpected outcomes.  One of the scientists there, Dr. Kathy Grieff (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is showing off one of those “unexpected outcomes” vis-à-vis a bloody bandage covering one of her eyes.  

Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) is an enigma. Is she human? A clone? A genetic experiment gone wrong? She seems moody and unresponsive much of the time, answering in monosyllables to questions asked, but always alert and intelligent under her hoodie.  Pretty soon we find out that Morgan has got some major strength to go with her major intelligence, and she has just been waiting, watching, observing, and learning so that she can be free.  

And Weathers is not going to let that happen.

Photo Credit: Aidan Monaghan.

There is a surprising amount of gory bloodletting during a few scenes that surprised me, considering that this movie is advertised as a sci-fi/thriller and not really a horror movie, but there you go. Not a bad thing, in my mind. There is real suspense, too, especially when Paul Giamatti shows up as a psychologist determined to find out just where Morgan’s “trigger” is and verbally harangues her about what she did–well, he’s always great, so there’s another in the plus column.  And Taylor-Joy is terrific as the ultra human “it” Morgan, ignorant, innocent, enlightened, and amoral all at the same time.  And maybe add a dash of “sociopathic” in there, too.

Part of the problem I had with the movie was that there were no surprises whatsoever.  Everything happens very by the numbers, and exactly when you expect it to, and pretty much how you expect it to as well.  Even the “twist” that comes at the end was something that was telegraphed waaaay before then, and, frankly, was obvious to anyone who’s seen a movie before.

Photo Credit: Aidan Monaghan.

Director Luke Scott (The Hunger TV series) does a great job with what he’s been given in the tepid script by Seth W. Owen. Individual scenes are effective and well-acted, well-photographed, but as a whole, it just doesn’t hang right.  I enjoyed the movie, but it left no lingering questions or images to ponder.  Maybe I was expecting too much from a movie about an artificial human to actually consider what it means to be an artificial human?

Final thoughts: Morgan is a good, solid movie that does not reach very far and is quite satisfied with what it can grasp. It’s a pleasant enough diversion to keep oneself occupied for a couple hours, so in that vein I can say check it out!

Morgan is now available on Bluray and DVD.