As I watched 'Morgan' something became fairly obvious to me. This movie wanted to be 'Ex Machina' really bad. It's set in a remote location with a small cast. All of which are attempting to study a new form of human. Unlike 'Ex Machina' this film doesn't have any social or political commentary. Instead, this film has a twist ending that anyone could see coming from a mile away. Mainly, the film is about a young girl named Morgan that is a kind of superhuman. She has muddled powers and ages far more rapidly than any other human being. But, after an accident, a corporate consultant comes in to determine if the project can continue.
The plot picks up as Kate Mara, the consultant, comes into the compound. She meets the workers and learns more about the situation. The one thing that worked really well for me was Kate Mara. Her performance was spot on for the character that she played. She may not have been the most involving protagonist, but what was odd is that she was meant to be that way.
She was meant to play this odd, stone cold person and she did a great job. Other than her there were only one or two other good performances. Boyd Holbrook was the only other actor in the film that was great. Unfortunately, his character, Skip, doesn't get the screen that he deserved. Yet, he made the most of the time that he got.
The only other thing that I can say impressed me was the camera work. Most of the interior shots were more or less close ups and that got a bit tiresome but everything else looked fantastic. The outdoor shots, the flashbacks, almost everything looked excellent. It was shot and colored to help you get more into the scene. And, even better, the camera was used a few times to give neat foreshadowing.
Which was subtly used to help allude to things to come. All of that worked very well. Where this film falls apart is basically everywhere else. The story especially suffers. This mainly stems from the lack of compelling main characters. The film tries very hard to create sympathy for both the humans and the super girl. But it doesn't let you learn much about them or them motivations.
Instead, they act completely irrationally for the entirety of the film. Like, this super girl stabbed a ladies eye out and murdered another guy and the scientists still try to protect her. I mean, the lady that lost her eye was one of them. Do they all seriously think that she won't kill them too? It's this irrational behavior that stops the film from being anything remotely interesting.
You are constantly pounding your face against the wall. It also doesn't help that this type of story has been done thousands of times over. An alien of some kind is grown in a lab and it escapes and wreaks havoc. There's nothing new about his story and the film doesn't really do much to subvert that same story. Aside from it's "twist" there isn't anything new.
Putting aside the dull, exposition-heavy story line, the most obnoxious thing about this film is the music. It's sometimes this strange electronic pop, techno sounding garbage and other times it's the old cut and paste stuff you hear in every movie. You get the "scary" violin stuff and the loud action music but these are both overshadowed by the sympathy music that plays almost every time Morgan is on screen. Instead of giving her a relatable persona, they just play this cheesy dumb song over the top.
Outside of the excellent cinematography and solid performances, this film is nothing new. Its soundtrack is obnoxious, the characters two dimensional, and the story is the same thing you see with every film like this. It's a lazy excuse for a movie. If you've seen anything that remotely sounds like this then you've already seen this movie. So, instead of seeing this, just go watch that other thing you saw.
The plot picks up as Kate Mara, the consultant, comes into the compound. She meets the workers and learns more about the situation. The one thing that worked really well for me was Kate Mara. Her performance was spot on for the character that she played. She may not have been the most involving protagonist, but what was odd is that she was meant to be that way.
She was meant to play this odd, stone cold person and she did a great job. Other than her there were only one or two other good performances. Boyd Holbrook was the only other actor in the film that was great. Unfortunately, his character, Skip, doesn't get the screen that he deserved. Yet, he made the most of the time that he got.
The only other thing that I can say impressed me was the camera work. Most of the interior shots were more or less close ups and that got a bit tiresome but everything else looked fantastic. The outdoor shots, the flashbacks, almost everything looked excellent. It was shot and colored to help you get more into the scene. And, even better, the camera was used a few times to give neat foreshadowing.
Which was subtly used to help allude to things to come. All of that worked very well. Where this film falls apart is basically everywhere else. The story especially suffers. This mainly stems from the lack of compelling main characters. The film tries very hard to create sympathy for both the humans and the super girl. But it doesn't let you learn much about them or them motivations.
Instead, they act completely irrationally for the entirety of the film. Like, this super girl stabbed a ladies eye out and murdered another guy and the scientists still try to protect her. I mean, the lady that lost her eye was one of them. Do they all seriously think that she won't kill them too? It's this irrational behavior that stops the film from being anything remotely interesting.
You are constantly pounding your face against the wall. It also doesn't help that this type of story has been done thousands of times over. An alien of some kind is grown in a lab and it escapes and wreaks havoc. There's nothing new about his story and the film doesn't really do much to subvert that same story. Aside from it's "twist" there isn't anything new.
Putting aside the dull, exposition-heavy story line, the most obnoxious thing about this film is the music. It's sometimes this strange electronic pop, techno sounding garbage and other times it's the old cut and paste stuff you hear in every movie. You get the "scary" violin stuff and the loud action music but these are both overshadowed by the sympathy music that plays almost every time Morgan is on screen. Instead of giving her a relatable persona, they just play this cheesy dumb song over the top.
Outside of the excellent cinematography and solid performances, this film is nothing new. Its soundtrack is obnoxious, the characters two dimensional, and the story is the same thing you see with every film like this. It's a lazy excuse for a movie. If you've seen anything that remotely sounds like this then you've already seen this movie. So, instead of seeing this, just go watch that other thing you saw.