Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Morgan (2016)

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Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 09-02-2016, 11:30 PM:

Directorial debut of Ridley Scott's son, Luke. Continuing the remake theme, this is basically a remake of Alien, but set on Earth, about half an hour shorter and with a target who is a genetically engineered human or cyborg (it's never made clear precisely which, underscored by the characters' disagreement as to whether to refer to Morgan as "her" or "it") rather than an extra-terrestrial monster.

Kate Mara plays a "risk management consultant" from "The Corporation," who is sent to a research facility in the middle of rural nowhere to find out why Morgan is not behaving as expected and what to do about it. The problem is that Morgan has figured out that termination could be on the cards, and decides to terminate the terminators first.

The movie is very well paced: it packs a lot into 92 minutes (probably around 85 excluding the credit crawl), and feels like a two-hour movie. The two leads (Mara and Anya Taylor-Joy as Morgan) turn in extremely strong performances, though the supporting characters are more shallow and stereotypical. It makes a lot out of what I suspect is quite a small budget, especially in terms of sets and costumes, though the visuals are let down by a car chase scene near the end, which screams cheap CGI.

This isn't going to play well with an audience expecting a Christopher Nolan-style megabudgeted sci-fi blockbuster, but for those who appreciate a very solid script, lead performances and direction, it won't disappoint. There is also a somewhat predictable, but well executed twist in the final scene, too.