OK, there are very heavy spoilers in this, because to talk about the film properly, that's what has to happen.
I was really excited for this movie because of both the premise sounding like there could be a load of cool concepts within it, and the cast. Ridley Scott's involvement did have me concerned - I unfortunately have only really had bad experiences with Ridley Scott bar The Martian - but I still saw it.
The majority of the first part of the film, where it takes its time to explore the facilities and who everyone is and what their role is in Morgan's wellbeing is nice, with there being many characters that the actors do so well in adapting. The overall design of the film is strong, with the Scott's showing a clear expertise in how to make a film look pretty and have high production quality in terms of sets and style.
This is where my positive outlook REALLY goes out the window, and from now on it's all rage. The film does away with a cool concept of the scientists being emotionally attached to this thing they've made, and then makes it into the film of smart people doing dumb things i.e. not increasing any security after the incident in which Morgan brutally stabbed out a anothers eye, allowing a deliberately provoking psychologist to go in unprepared and unprotected (spoilers, that character dies), immediately taking the restraints off her when the last thing she remembers was them agreeing to kill her and telling her she's worthless, or not teaching her anything that would be worthy to know for functioning in the real world (which is the 'explained' purpose of the program). Addition is the fact that certain characters are killed for almost no reason; I mentioned the lady who got her eye stabbed out played by a wasted Jennifer Jason Leigh...we never, EVER find out what provoked her to do this, or kill her as she does later, which is bad writing. Others I'm thinking, "yes that person deserved that"/"Wait, why that guy?"/"Why's this person killing this person?", which all builds up to a twist that is so bad that I saw it in the first 5 minutes but just didn't want to believe. I'll talk about it at the end.
This film is mess; a hot mess that wastes so much of its cast. The best things in the film are the Cinematography, the visual style and that Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones and Rose Leslie were really trying to add so much more than had, and succeeded because they are majorly talented. However, if you are going to watch this, wait for it to be on TV.
OK, twist: The only performance I had a real issue with in the film was Kate Mara, as whilst she is a very quirky, fun actress, the part is completely standoff-ish and emotionless. She's less emotional than Morgan, and at this point I could see she wasn't a risk assessment analyst but likely another experiment. At the end of the film, they reveal that the L3 (lee) is superior to the M4, and she was "perfect" meaning she was indeed another experiment. The problem with this is that entire movie I was on the side of the scientists, and even Morgan, because of the personality they exhibited and that they weren't a blank slate, and also...they were in the right so often and things were made worse by the actions of the company. It also makes me ask a bunch of questions, such as:
The whole film I didn't want Lee to win. I'm serious, I totally sided with the 'villain', and that flip at the end put a really sour taste in not just my mouth, the audience I saw it with. And...I end there.
I was really excited for this movie because of both the premise sounding like there could be a load of cool concepts within it, and the cast. Ridley Scott's involvement did have me concerned - I unfortunately have only really had bad experiences with Ridley Scott bar The Martian - but I still saw it.
The majority of the first part of the film, where it takes its time to explore the facilities and who everyone is and what their role is in Morgan's wellbeing is nice, with there being many characters that the actors do so well in adapting. The overall design of the film is strong, with the Scott's showing a clear expertise in how to make a film look pretty and have high production quality in terms of sets and style.
This is where my positive outlook REALLY goes out the window, and from now on it's all rage. The film does away with a cool concept of the scientists being emotionally attached to this thing they've made, and then makes it into the film of smart people doing dumb things i.e. not increasing any security after the incident in which Morgan brutally stabbed out a anothers eye, allowing a deliberately provoking psychologist to go in unprepared and unprotected (spoilers, that character dies), immediately taking the restraints off her when the last thing she remembers was them agreeing to kill her and telling her she's worthless, or not teaching her anything that would be worthy to know for functioning in the real world (which is the 'explained' purpose of the program). Addition is the fact that certain characters are killed for almost no reason; I mentioned the lady who got her eye stabbed out played by a wasted Jennifer Jason Leigh...we never, EVER find out what provoked her to do this, or kill her as she does later, which is bad writing. Others I'm thinking, "yes that person deserved that"/"Wait, why that guy?"/"Why's this person killing this person?", which all builds up to a twist that is so bad that I saw it in the first 5 minutes but just didn't want to believe. I'll talk about it at the end.
This film is mess; a hot mess that wastes so much of its cast. The best things in the film are the Cinematography, the visual style and that Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones and Rose Leslie were really trying to add so much more than had, and succeeded because they are majorly talented. However, if you are going to watch this, wait for it to be on TV.
OK, twist: The only performance I had a real issue with in the film was Kate Mara, as whilst she is a very quirky, fun actress, the part is completely standoff-ish and emotionless. She's less emotional than Morgan, and at this point I could see she wasn't a risk assessment analyst but likely another experiment. At the end of the film, they reveal that the L3 (lee) is superior to the M4, and she was "perfect" meaning she was indeed another experiment. The problem with this is that entire movie I was on the side of the scientists, and even Morgan, because of the personality they exhibited and that they weren't a blank slate, and also...they were in the right so often and things were made worse by the actions of the company. It also makes me ask a bunch of questions, such as:
- If the L3 was perfect, why bother making Morgan? What was the fault that needed correcting or whatever?
- If that was the sole purpose of the visit, why did so many other characters HAVE to die? Lee murders two people, including a cook that had no role to play in the main story; so much for "perfect".
- What purpose does Lee have to the company? Weapon? Extra help? Profit? If it's any of those, how and why?
- How does NO ONE pick up on any of the obvious hints of what's going on? She speaks fluent Chinese to the Chinese doctor on the project despite being there "not long", and knows so much info the doctors don't, has the ability to survive a long fight with Morgan and clumsily proclaims her job's to kill Morgan.
The whole film I didn't want Lee to win. I'm serious, I totally sided with the 'villain', and that flip at the end put a really sour taste in not just my mouth, the audience I saw it with. And...I end there.