Morgan
1 out of 5 stars
Rated R. Directed by Luke Scott.
Starring Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones, Rose Leslie, Boyd Holbrook, Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Paul Giamatti.
Opens Sept. 2.
Science fiction movies still haven't gotten over Ridley Scott's 1982 Blade Runner. From Scott's detail-oriented direction to the light-soaked, smoke-choked cinematography by Jordan Cronenweth and the future-noir synth score by Vangelis, Blade Runner has set the tempo for 30 years of cinematic sci-fi and counting.
Morgan is a new movie that would very much like to be compared to Blade Runner. Not coincidentally, it's directed by first-timer Luke Scott: Ridley Scott's son. This relationship is, by far, the most interesting thing about Morgan. As Rutger Hauer's sadboy replicant Roy Batty in Blade Runner seeks to destroy and supplant his father, so too does one Scott approach the other's throne with dreams of conquest.
There is, of course, a direct (though less violent) reference to the scene where Batty sticks his thumbs through his father's eye sockets, because Morgan is entirely cobbled together from other things. Like the titular genetic construct, played by Ana Taylor-Joy (The Witch), who for all intents and purposes appears to be a human girl, Morgan appears to be a movie but is really just a collage of found material, without the animating spark that turns imitation into homage. Please keep an eye out for a misspelling of “analysis” in the surveillance shot that opens the movie.
Kate Mara (The Lesser Mara, of House of Cards) plays a stoic company fixer sent to an isolated lab where a team is working on the Morgan project. Mara interacts with a bunch of other TV actors and, strangely, Paul Giamatti and Toby Jones (I feel like you get one or the other; you can't have both those guys onscreen at the same time). Of course Morgan is unstable, and eventually escapes and starts killing everyone. But just as Harrison Ford might have been a replicant himself in Blade Runner, Mara's character has some secrets of her own. Or, I guess she does, but they're handled in such a perfunctory manner that if you walked out with two minutes to spare you'd have no idea.
Its greatest sin is that it's simply not interesting to look at. Mara wanders through an impressively drab mansion set, an impressively drab laboratory set, and some woods that yield a handful of striking shots. But none of it gels, least of all in the fight scenes, which are shot from about 56 separate angles and edited into a whiplash mess of motion blur and sound effects. The closest thing to visual invention are some flashbacks that soak the frame in Instagram-worthy saturation. It looks like a student film, or a really daft episode of Black Mirror.
Its second greatest sin is that it's boring as shit. By the time the plot kicks into gear we're halfway into the movie, and Morgan doesn't have near enough style to coast on. What I suggest you do if you find yourself in the theater for this one is get a whiskey double and, as obnoxiously as possible, point out all the things pilfered from better movies. You could take a shot every time you notice one, but be careful.
You wouldn't want to pass out and miss that big twist.
This article appears in Aug 25 – Sep 1, 2016.