- Actors: Kate Mara, Toby Jones, Michael Yare
- Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
- Language: English (Dolby Surround)
- Subtitles: English, French, Spanish
- Dubbed: French, Spanish
- Region: Region A/1
- Rated: R
- Studio: 20th Century Fox
- Release Date: December 13, 2016
- Run Time: 92 minutes
If you remove
the ideas of misogyny from the narrative of Ex
Machina and replace it with hard-hitting action sequences, you would have Morgan. Little about the screenplay is
original, but something about allowing two women to head up a majority of battles
(both verbal and hand-to-hand) still feels innovative. Even if the screenplay
itself is not nearly as intelligent as the initial setup seems to imply, and
despite being able to predict the final twist less than halfway through the movie,
I remained engaged with the performers and the world that they created until
the last frame.
Since we have
seen the man-made creation-gone-wrong narrative countless times before, I was
thankful to discover that Morgan does
not force us to endure the creation process. We join the narrative much in the
same way as Ex Machina, alongside a
newcomer arriving to witness and evaluate the project’s progress and set-backs.
Lee Weathers (Kate Mara) is a corporate risk-management consultant sent to
decide the viability of the project after a violent outburst occurs. The
artificially created humanoid known as Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) is usually
controlled, though the investigation discovers that her human emotions can lead
to sudden eruptions when pushed too far. In effect, she has temper tantrums
which are far more brutal than would be possible from a human the same age,
especially because of her accelerated growth.
The first of
these outbursts occurs in the film’s first scene, not long after Morgan has
been restricted from outside excursions. Even though she ruthlessly attacks one
of the doctors on the project (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the victim and many of
the other doctors are quick to defend Morgan. Part of the problem is that this
group of doctors (Toby Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Chris Sullivan, Rose Leslie) have
raised Morgan from infancy, and are blinded by their feelings of paternal
obligation. Only the project’s cook (Boyd Holbrook) doesn’t have a bias towards
the creation, with the exception of a completely illogical and brief appearance
by a psychologist (Paul Giamatti) brought in to instigate a response from
Morgan, with little consideration for the outcome.
At about the
same time that violence is forced out of Morgan as a way of proving the
instability of the project, the film begins to devolve into an action movie
where many of the characters are driven by illogical emotions. Perhaps this was
meant as a commentary on the instability of humans, and the inevitability that
Morgan would carry these same traits alongside her superhuman strength. But I
still couldn’t help but wonder who it was that taught the cyber-being martial
arts in the first place. Whether the action is meant to be an extension of the
film’s ideas or merely a bit of extraneous spectacle, the larger ideas of the
film take backseat to the thrills during the second half of the narrative.
Despite
devolving into pure spectacle, the visual style of the film is actually quite
subdued. Other than an odd look to her eyes, Morgan mostly just looks human.
This is not very heavy sci-fi, even if the ideas within the story have been
used as such in the past. This doesn’t mean that the Blu-ray is unnecessary,
though the high definition is a luxury rather than a necessity for a film like
this. Morgan is director Luke Scott’s
feature-film debut, though one of his short films (LOOM) is included in the special features, with an optional
commentary track from the filmmaker. Scott also provides an audio commentary
for the feature film, as well as the handful of deleted scenes also included in
the extras. There is also a gallery of still photos and a featurette about the
actual science behind the film’s concept.
*** The Blu-ray release comes with a Digital HD
copy, though it is currently not available through Ultraviolet, as advertised.
This problem may be resolved soon, but as of 12/18/16, this is what I know: The
Blu-ray includes the usual code for adding to your digital library, but the
code doesn’t work since they have yet to add the film into their system. I
contacted Ultraviolet to let them know that this title was not available and
the code entered brings up an error as a result. I didn’t let Ultraviolet know
that I am a critic who has been sent the release by the studio itself for
review purposes, because I wanted to see how they would treat the average
consumer.
It turns out they treat them like
common thieves. When I politely informed them of the missing films (several of
this past week’s other releases are suspiciously missing, including Southside With Me, “Harley and the
Davidsons,” and Morgan), they asked
me to send them a receipt of purchase, proving I had actually bought the films.
What’s even more frustrating than the implication of this request is the fact
that it does nothing to address the real problem. Code or no code, receipt or
no receipt, it does nothing to change the fact that the films are not even
entered into the Ultraviolet system to begin with. I don’t know if the studios
using this system are aware of the problems, but consumers should know what
they are paying for, and as of 12/18/16 it is not a digital copy.
Entertainment Value:
7.5/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6.5/10
Historical
Significance: 5/10
Special Features: 6/10
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