MORGAN – Review

Many storytellers have used science fiction to question human existence. Even if you haven’t read Mary Shelley’s iconic novel, you know the story of Dr. Frankenstein and his creation. You know of a scientist – I’ll leave calling him “mad” up to you – and his search to understand life and in doing so how he magically creates new life. You know of a tragic creature who is thrust into a world that is both fascinated and yet repelled by it. Though many would call the Frankenstein creature a him instead of an it, Kate Mara’s character Lee Weathers would be quick to correct you. Apparently artificial life should not be given proper pronouns, and while Luke Scott’s feature film debut seems ready to address the contemporary concerns over gender labels and life existing outside male and female labels, MORGAN regresses into yet another forgettable attempt at breathing life into the Frankenstein mythos, failing to spark new ideas in a story you have heard before.

Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is assigned to examine the collateral damage of a violent attack that occurred in her company’s research laboratory and gauge the risk of a future incident. When she arrives, she is met with apprehension from those that have been raising Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy from this year’s THE WITCH). Morgan is said to be only 5 years old, but has evolved quickly enough to have the appearance of an 18 year old but with the mental powers of something far beyond human ability. Things go even more awry when Lee and a psychiatrist begin questioning the motives and actions of this advanced creature. Can she… it be trusted?

Right from the opening shot where a surveillance camera from high above the action shows a meeting between Morgan and a scientist played by Jennifer Jason Leigh, there is instantly a sense of cold distance placed between the film and the audience. This sense of detachment continues throughout the duration of the film – and not just because of the blue and grey color scheme of the film – despite attempts to get to know the people in the lab. Luke Scott (Ridley Scott’s son) has gathered a talented cast even if they aren’t given much material. And how could they. With such a brief running time that is mainly spent showing the creature striking back at its creators, there isn’t time to connect with the characters as much as we probably should. Paul Giamatti, in a sequence that shows him playing an overly antagonizing psychiatrist, is the only one that makes the most of what little screen time he is given.

Located behind a musty Victorian home, the lab where most of the action takes place is all too familiar looking, but when juxtaposed with this old house in the middle of a field, it enhances the dichotomy that Luke Scott occasionally plays with. You have the clear divide between subject and scientists with the glass wall separating them; the interview and interviewee during a central scene in the film; even the focus that is put on the romantic entanglements of the scientists. However, these binary male and female lines are intentionally blurred when looking at Morgan, dressed in a nondescript grey hoodie shrouding her makeup-less features. The character of Lee furthers this with her own androgynous haircut, demeanor, and buttoned-up suits. She exemplifies zero signs of the tradition idea of femininity. Both characters even bear names that could be either male or female. Elements such as these where you see Scott making purposeful decisions to start an interesting dialogue are wasted by adhering to the typical Hollywood model of how these stories should be told. B-movie blood and theatrics are the eventual focus instead of subverting what audiences are already expecting.

Given the lo-fi, futuristic, dream-like quality of Luke Scott’s previous short film LOOM, it’s puzzling that he would settle on Seth W. Owen’s pedestrian script for his feature debut. Although a film is assembled by incorporating many parts, the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts. In fact, MORGAN is more or less cobbled together with ideas that we have seen in far more memorable films, such as last year’s EX MACHINA and the under-seen SPLICE, to name a few. Dull, stale, and lifeless aren’t what you want from the first feature that you create; especially when there was potential trying to grow in some of its parts.

Overall rating: 2 out of 5

MORGAN opens in theaters on September 2, 2016