Title – Morgan (2016)

Director – Luke Scott (feature debut)

Cast – Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rose Leslie, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Brian Cox, Paul Giamatti

Plot – Corporate risk-management officer Lee Weathers (Mara) is tasked with heading out into the sticks to analyse the risk and viability of her company’s creation known as Morgan (Taylor-Joy), an artificially created being with above average human powers that could be potentially dangerous.

“Do you know the cruellest thing you can do to someone you’ve locked in a room? Press their face to the window”

Review by Eddie on 08/05/2017

It mustn’t be easy being the offspring of a legendary filmmaker if you yourself are looking to carve out a successful career behind camera.

No matter what you do to start off with, its inevitable that you’re beginning works will be referenced against the works of your parent.

In consideration of this, it’s hard to not judge budding filmmaker Luke Scott here on debut against the works of his father Ridley and in doing so the young upstart doesn’t even come close to the best of Scott’s many years of solid works and at the end of the day, Luke’s Morgan feels like a cheap and nasty version of a much better film in the form of Alex Garland’s Ex_Machina.

Sharing many similarities to 2015’s sci-fi hit in the way in which it deals with artificial/manufactured intelligence and the way in which we study/deal with it, Morgan has some very cool ideas but its uneasy mix of sci-fi and horror elements combine to create a genuinely unengaging experience that fails in almost all aspects.

Scott doesn’t at present possess his father’s talent for visual pizazz and thrilling handling of action whilst the many more conversational moments of Morgan (of which there are many) fail to properly get you in their grips, bar one particularly good Paul Giamatti cameo (when isn’t this guy MVP of whatever his in?). The way also in which we are introduced to Morgan (an artificially created being) and the team tasked with handling her development also leaves much to be desired despite some solid attempts by the recognisable cast.

Led by Kate Mara as emotionally void higher up employee Lee Weathers, Morgan also introduces us to Rose Leslie’s loving carer Dr. Amy Menser and Anya Taylor-Joy’s titular mysterious creation but unlike say Ex_Machina’s wholly engaging cast of characters and scenes together, Morgan never bothers to make us care about the group were joined up with, even if at times Scott try’s to manipulate our emotions in certain ways.

It’s arguable that there’s a good story to be told within Morgan but there’s also solid arguments to be made that this type of story has been told before and told a lot better and while it’s great to know the Scott name is entering into its next generation, Luke certainly has a long way to go before we can start getting excited about that fact.

1 injured deer out of 5