Movie Review: Morgan

Cloning, artificial intelligence-playing God. These have all been themes in various forms of media and entertainment but to some extend it has also reached the realm of reality as well. 

In the father-son, directed/produced Sci-Fi thriller, "Morgan" Luke and Ridley Scott (the younger Scott in his directorial debut and the more experienced Scott producing) take the viewers to an isolated secret facility where a top secret project, "Morgan" (Anya Tayoor-Joy) was created and born in a laboratory. At five years old she already looks like she's sixteen. She plays chess, listens to classical music and makes the perfect ravioli but she just stabbed one if her handlers in the eye. 

This of course, is a cause of concern for the corporation funding the project, and they send Heather Lee (Kate Mara) a risk assessment manager to see whether Morgan should be considered a risk. 

The problem is, the team behind #ProjectMorgan has been kept isolated in the facility for five years and may not be objective when it comes to Morgan, who they see as their child. 

After a psychiatric evaluation for Morgan goes terribly wrong, no one is safe in the compound and Morgan's "family" will do anything to protect her. 

Watching the film, it reminded me a bit of "Hollow Man" but in a darker tone. And while the themes of clones and artificial intelligence is nothing new in films, "Morgan" offers a nice twist in the end-one that even I could not predict until the last minute. There's some pretty awesome action sequences here and with Kate Mara's no-nonsense demeanor and Aeon Flux hairdo it was fun to watch. 

I also enjoyed a special guest appears from Paul Giamatti who had a very "fun" part in my opinion. I also liked seeing Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie in a role where she didn't have that thick heavy accent. 

5.5 out of 10. The film may be a dark Sci-Fi thriller but it doesn't bring anything new on the table. The twist in the end may be like a rug being pulled under you though. If you're looking for a Sci-Fi thriller in the cinemas, then "Morgan" is for you. 

"Morgan" is now showing in cinemas. 

Movies: GAME OF THRONES' ROSE LESLIE IN NEW MOVIE "MORGAN"

In the gripping, fast-paced action “Morgan” directed by Luke Scott, Kate Mara along with Rose Leslie and Michelle Yeoh star in a a thrilling, visceral and intense movie-going experience that explores the dangers of reproducing a human being far more advance than its creators.

Anya Taylor-Joy takes on the titular role of Morgan, at one month, she (it) was walking and talking; at six months, she exceeded her creators’ wildest expectations.  Morgan is enigmatic and unpredictable—a lab-created being with emotional capacity and conflicting traits that blur the line between being human and synthetic.      

Morgan’s de facto family including Amy, Morgan’s psychoanalyst, played by Rose Leslie is quick to defend Morgan’s continued existence but does not sit well with the company’s troubleshooter, Lee Weathers (Kate Mara). Morgan’s family within the institution includes Simon Ziegler (Toby Jones) as the project’s chief scientist; Dr. Lui Cheng (Michelle Yeoh) as a scientist/analyst; Amy (Rose Leslie) is a psychoanalyst; Kathy (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a behavioral psychiatrist; Skip (Boyd Holbrook) is a project nutritionist and cook; Brenda (Vinette Robinson) has a background in military medicine; Ted Brenner (Michael Yare) is the project manager; and Darren (Chris Sullivan) is a lab technician.

For the past few years, Morgan’s development has tested this group in ways they could have never imagined.  But when Morgan takes a violent turn, they must determine if their creation is a world-changing success, or a dangerously unstable creature.

Rose Leslie is perhaps best known for her role as Ygritte in the worldwide phenomenon, Game of Thrones, a role she secured in 2012 and played through two seasons, alongside Kit Harington and Richard Madden. 

In “Morgan,” she plays psychoanalyst Amy who also has a strong connection to Morgan, though her love for it, is “narcissistic, because Amy is mirroring who she is onto Morgan,” explains Rose Leslie, who portrays Amy.  “It’s a scary, double-edged sword in the way she loves Morgan because Amy sees herself in Morgan.  Amy truly believes she’s embodying Morgan with a soul.  For Amy, it’s all about possessiveness.”

The judgment of all the team members has been affected not only by their attachment to their experiment, but by their isolation from the outside world.   “They’ve all been in this bubble for five years, so their sense of reality is diminished,” says Leslie.  “They spend almost all their time watching Morgan, as if she were in this exotic fishbowl.” 

"Morgan” was shot at the old Britvic Plant in Belfast, and in the Tollymore Forest, in Bryansford.   Outside and surrounding the facility is the forest environment, indicating both the location’s remote nature and also the therapy used by Rose Leslie’s character Amy for Morgan to slowly become assimilated into the world outside the compound.   This “Natural Interface Therapy,” as director Scott dubbed it, is a fictional process but seems plausible in its theory and implementation.  “It’s designed to help an organism, like Morgan, develop a sense of soul,” says the director.  But the team at this remote facility never anticipated the consequences of its experiment acquiring this very human trait.

 “Morgan” opens September 7 in cinemas nationwide from 20^th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros. 

Movies: KATE MARA’S LATEST MISSION IN “MORGAN”

From her rescue mission in “The Martian,” Kate Mara stars anew in the upcoming action thriller “Morgan” where her latest mission brings her to a remote, top-secret location where she is to investigate and evaluate a terrifying accident. 

 When “Morgan” (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) suddenly attacks one of her handlers, the corporation overseeing and funding the project calls in a special “risk management consultant,” Lee Weathers, to investigate.  Kate Mara, who had just come off a starring turn in Ridley Scott’s blockbuster, Oscar-nominated “The Martian,” portrays Lee.   “My character is hired to visit the facility and assess Morgan’s viability and whether it presents a continuing risk,” Mara explains.   In short, Lee holds the power of life or death over the subject of her investigation.

 The other scientists and staff at the facility soon come to understand that Lee, despite her position as a kind of corporate crisis manager—a “suit”—is someone not to be taken lightly, and holds more than a few surprises of her own in dealing with an escalating threat.  “Lee is very determined, very skilled, and very well-trained,” adds Mara.

 Mara was further attracted to the story’s human elements, as well as to its different facets.  “There’s definitely drama there, as well as a lot of thrills, action, and sometimes horror.  But most of all, it’s about what it means to be human.  I like that it’s so layered.”

 One of the more daunting challenges for both Mara and Taylor-Joy was the brutal fights waged between their two characters.  Designed and choreographed by stunt coordinator Paul Herbert and his team, the battles royale are among the film’s centerpieces, revealing unexpected facets of what appeared to be a trouble-shooting corporate “suit” and an innocent-looking “experiment” gone wrong.

 “Kate and Anya were really impressive,” says director Luke Scott.  “For those fight scenes, they turned themselves into action heroes.”

 An Emmy-award nominee for her role in David Fincher’s television series “House of Cards,” Kate Mara’s impressive film credits include her feature film debut in “Random Hearts” for director Sydney Pollack and was soon followed by “Brokeback Mountain” for director Ang Lee, “Transsiberian” with Ben Kingsley and Woody Harrelson for director Brad Anderson, “We Are Marshall” with Matthew McConaughey and Matthew Fox for director McG, “Shooter” with Mark Wahlberg for director Antoine Fuqua; and Stone of Destiny with Charlie Cox for director Charles Martin Smith. 

 Mara also appeared in the Academy Award nominated film “127 Hours” with James Franco and Amber Tamblyn for director Danny Boyle.  She co-starred in “Transcendence” alongside Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Rebecca Hall and Morgan Freeman.  Her latest works in recent years include “Fantastic Four,” “Captive” and the award-winning “The Martian.”

 “Morgan” will open this September 7 in cinemas nationwide from 20^thCentury Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.