Star-Studded Sci-Fi Thriller Finds Second Life On Max
Sci-fi stories about artificial intelligence gone rogue have existed since before computers, since you can argue that Frankenstein was a created intelligence, or even 1872’s Erewhon, a satirical take on stuck-up aristocratic Victorian England. AI turning against its creators is its own subgenre of sci-fi now, from the cliche Subservience to the high-brow Ex Machina. Somewhere between those two extremes is Morgan a 2016 sci-fi thriller that failed to make much of an impression despite the stacked cast, but nine years later, is in Max’s top ten.
An Overqualified Cast
Morgan starts off like most films of the genre, with an outside expert coming in to see what technological Frankenstein a group of scientists have created and how to best deal with it. This time, the expert is Lee Weathers (Kate Mara), who handles risk management for a billion-dollar corporation, and the subject is Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy), a biological machine smarter, faster, and stronger than a human. Ex Machina played with the genre by making viewers question if Ava was actually a robot, while here, we know Morgan is, and she’s surrounded by a team of scientists that consider her their child.
The scientists add to the star power of the two leads, including Michelle Yeoh, Paul Giamatti, Rose Leslie (Ygritte from Game of Thrones), Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook (you know him from Narcos), and Jennifer Jason Leigh. If you don’t recognize names, you’ll recognize faces, but despite all the Academy Awards between the cast, the plot remains your basic rogue AI story, albeit with murders that you won’t see coming. Morgan does try to add a twist to the tired formula, but it only serves to muddle the rest of the movie, which is still better than the more recent movies of the genre audiences have been asked to endure.
From Flop To Hit
It’s a testament to the talented ensemble and the first-time director, Luke Scott, that Morgan could be considered a “gentleman’s six” of a sci-fi thriller. Scott had plenty of experience as a second-unit director before tackling this film, having worked with his father, Ridley Scott, on The Martian. For a film that takes place in one location, the younger Scott makes the most of it and is able to provide a real feel for how large the complex is and where every character is at all times, which provides fodder for a few good jump scare moments.
In a reversal of typical sci-fi films, Morgan is rated lower on Rotten Tomatoes by the audience (30 percent) than critics (38 percent), owing in part to how it’s a well-worn plot but also the first half is a slow burn with not much action. Removed from the theater-going experience, where it earned a measly $8.8 million worldwide, audiences have now come around to the film’s deliberate pacing and plot. Throw a rock these days, and you’ll hit an AI gone rogue film, including Megan Fox’s take in Subservience (where, surprise, she’s actually pretty good as a homicidal emotionless robot), and there’s more coming, with M3GAN 2.0 on the way, but none can boost the surprising pedigree of Morgan, which is worth it just for Anya Taylor-Joy alone.
Morgan is streaming on Max.
Login with Google