Morgan

The movie you make after being tied to a unicorn and forced to watch Blade Runner every morning for 16 years.

The whole premise of "Morgan" hinges upon whether or not it's titular character has any rights as a human being, yet the characters fail to even consider the question. So "Morgan" ends up playing more like a brutish, low IQ version of "Ex Machina." The bad news is that I didn't like that movie either.

Morgan is obviously riding the coattails of Ex Machina, which would be fine if the reflective first half hadn't devolved into a fist-fight and wry twist. Or perhaps, if the action was distributed through the aforementioned first-half. The cast sports some big names, who are under-utilised with a plot that plods along via moronic character actions. The premise keeps the film watchable, but nothing is left to the imagination, which in this case is a let-down.

Decent but completely predictable movie with good performances from Anya Taylor-Joy, Paul Giamatti, and Kate Mara. That being said the characters are completely stupid and get exactly what they deserved. Amy was by far the most pathetic character in the movie I was hoping that she would die nearly the entire film. The twist wasn't much of one and didn't add anything to the film.

I wish this had gone somewhere other than "The AI wants to escape and kills people to do it." It's predictable, on top of lacking much plot in the first place.. Very very similar to Ex Machina.. Deja vu similar. Paul Giamatti's psychiatrist character was an idiot that did dumb things that didn't make any sense at all and his death was satisfying. I wish it had used creativity instead of trying to use action to entertain. The "plot twist" at the end was, again, very predictable. Overall.. Boring.

Spoiler I was so happy when the idiot people died for trying to save a machine that kills

The opening 30 minutes fooled me into think it was going to explore a new premise about artificial intelligence. Then it sidestepped into action/horror and any glimmer of intelligent thought was gone.

So its indie Blade Runner. I can dig that. Good characters, mildly stale plot, visually engaging. Extra points for maras intense severe wardrobe.

You'll have to take an extra shot of suspension of disbelief to enjoy this one, as well as accept the couple idiot balls/characters inexplicably doing the exact opposite of what has been thoroughly established as their inflexible modus operandi 10 times before. All that said, it's entertaining for what it is.

The first half when it's more of a suspense movie is actually quite enjoyable, though obviously familiar. Still, they build some emotional connections between the characters and you want to see how it unfolds. Then it turns into any number of super soldier action movies and in this case, that's an unfortunate change. It was more compelling when it was the first half. Plot twist adds nothing; Mara's character would actually be more memorable without it, because now it's just another convention.

Pretty good sci-fi until it suddenly degenerated into a run-of-the-mill horror movie. Waste of a good cast.

"It's too bad she won't live!" said Edward James Olmos at the end of BLADE RUNNER. "But, then again, who does?" Also the hard and painful action during the last 30 minutes was cool but I am not sure if a car chase of that caliber was necessary.

Every movie with extended scenes taking place in a forest probably near Vancouver BC looks very bland. Everyone in the movie deserved to die, and a lot of them do, so some satisfaction is delivered, but I'm not sure if that was the intent.

not so good

Feels like a bad ripoff of ex-machina. Very boring.

Look, it's not terrible. In fact, there are a few enjoyable moments and parts that are executed quite well. But it is predictable as hell and leads ultimately to its downfall. There's no surprise and nothing that will keep you engaged for the entirety of the film. Kate Mara is quite good and Anya Taylor-Joy continues to show her promise with appearances in now in multiple, so-so horror/thriller films.

Nothing new as far as creating a artificial human killing machine, but at least there was little bullshitting around.

Wants to be a 21st century Blade Runner, would have worked better as a 60-minute Black Mirror episode. The pacing is off and everyone's motivations seem more like stupidity, but Anya Taylor-Joy is brilliant and while the twist is very obvious, it feels like a very current point to make.

Somebody lost the 2nd act. Except for a nice twist at the end, (which my friend saw coming 20 minutes in) this has nothing to say other than corporations owning DNA are evil. (Surprise!) The filmmaker withdraws sympathy for the protagonist almost as quickly as he instills it; Giamatti plays the worst psychiatrist in history; & the caretakers act pretty stupidly as well. It only becomes interesting if you pretend it's a metaphor for being soft on crime & imagine the scientists are liberals.

'Half human experimental being' is locked in a room after attacking someone. Someone comes in and purposely provokes the HHEB. What could possibly go wrong? This is predictable fayre and spoiled by silliness. You don't walk up to someone with a rifle to kill them,, you use its long range capabilities and blow the targets head off from half a mile away. Super cast but wasted on this paper thin script. Even the abysmal 'I, Robot' had more discussion on the future of robots and consciousness.

Pretty interesting concept and visuals, but not enough bang.

The light version of "Ex Machina" which felt a bit mediocre after all. My opinion here : http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/2017/01/morgan-2016.html [Full review]

Completely predictable for the most part. Kate Mara's character is sent to discipline a particularly surly teenager who breaks rules and won't behave. Naive parent figures interfere with Kate's suggestions and as a result have to deal with the teenager's tantrum. Kate should wear sensible shoes.

"Morgan" builds its universe rather quickly, managing to hold interest despite precious little backstory and context. It does what most good Sci-Fi thrillers do, which is to present an investment-worthy hook ("What's going to happen to Morgan?"). Also, Paul Giamatti is life. It does definitely cross the line into pretty well straight-up action movie for awhile, and not to the story's benefit, I think ultimately failing where other similar movies have succeeded. Decent little twist at the end.

Predictable, somewhat boring, and a wasted opportunity.

Luke Scott's Morgan lets go of any possible originality it could have had, to act more like his father's Blade Runner. The cast is pretty good, but honestly the movie drags without much happening before or after the escape. There is an amazing 20 minute stretch in the middle, but besides that it suffers. Scott's direction works though. He provides interesting visuals with the premise. I just wish they followed the more original thoughts more.

Stupid twist, takes too long to get going, I don't like Kate Mara, there are too many characters, two English actors for no reason have to be American

Nothing novel or remotely surprising happens in 'Morgan' that makes drudging through the first hour and some worth it. The last 15-20 minutes are fun, but even that is ruined by on-the-nose metaphors and a twist that is so predictable, it might as well be on the poster.

And the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree here. Morgan effectively generates the same kind of psychological horror that the elder Scott's 1979 sci-fi jumpfest Alien did. Like that film, this one features an isolated group of characters essentially trapped in a facility with something they don't understand, something more deadly than any of them--save Lee Weathers (played with chilly aplomb by Kate Mara)--actually realize. (pluggedin.com)

Starts with a premise that is getting done a lot recently but that's to be expected with how culture is moving. The end half is pretty redundant and filled with some really terrible editing choices reminiscent of Jason Bourne this year in which the action is just hard to follow. Saw the preview for Resident Evil before this now there's a movie that has watchable action sequences. Taylor-Joy is creepy af. End was predictable if you were paying attention.

A group of old men came into the theatre 40 minutes late. I feel really bad for them.

The word "Morgan" is repeated over 100 times in this movie. I know, because I counted it. So, let's have a little demo, start saying "Morgan" a hundred times aloud, and long before you're done, you'll figure out why they named her Morgan. This is how intelligent the writing was. Imagine the rest. But that ending, and how cheaply they tried to rip off one of the greatest and most iconic movies of all times, is... Blasphemous. (PS, I'm further horrified to realize the director is the son of...)

I fairly forgettable movie with a lackluster plot and twist, but at least it introduced me to Anya Taylor-Joy. I give 5 blahs out of 10.

The reviews of Luke Scott's (son of Ridley) debut feature have been pretty scathing, but how bad could a film with this cast plus Brian Cox and Paul Giamatti really be? Really really really bad. Luke seems to have inherited his father's disregard for character and narrative, so we get a collection of one-dimensional paper cutouts who march us towards an ending we've figured out 40 minutes ago, making every predictably bad decision along the way.

very predictable but a good watch if you have some time to kill

Morgan has a killer premise and does just enough to keep it engaging for the 90 minutes for which it runs. It stops thinking midway through when it decides to focus on the action and the thrills - neither of which is particularly well-crafted - but, by that point, we're invested enough in the characters to want to see it through. Does that make it a success? A moderate one, I guess.

Video review: https://youtu.be/rh81bznZtJ4