Morgan

Guilty pleasure AF. An exceptionally well put together B-movie with an almost needlessly good cast. So what can you expect – especially after watching the well edited trailer – but something more ambitious, or at least more serious? Well, Morgan is neither very ambitious nor serious (though I’m afraid that the creators sometimes believe it is), but I chose to ignore that and had fairly good fun, to the point that I was surprised. The bonus is the most stupid group of scientists that’s ever been on screen (they will make you retroactively appreciate Prometheus!), and the almost pointless – though unexpected – final twist. If every bad film was as good as this, the world would be so beautiful! (03/12/2016)

I felt cheated.  I was led to believe this was a horror film but no matter how hard I looked, I found no elements of the horror genre. Then again, it wasn’t boring, even though I could hear the script desperately gasping for air at times. Watching the actions of the research team sometimes felt like watching a comedy. The plot did manage to surprise me, though. The downside was the cast. I expected much better from such a line-up. (14/01/2017)

The feature-length directorial debut of someone with such first-class pedigree as Ridley Scott certainly didn’t turn out badly. Luke Scott undoubtedly showed his qualities, though of course they are miles away from his father’s, but he still has potential. Morgan starts off slowly, but after about 30 minutes, it picks up a different pace. The overall execution looks interesting, but it still gave me a B-movie vibe—perhaps because of the A-list cast, which I would have imagined in other films. The scene with Giamatti was one of the best moments in the whole movie, as the script weakens the film, with most twists falling into the category of predictable (except for the one involving Mara at the end). However, as a light slasher, it works surprisingly well; you just have to forgive the characters' behavior, which spirals out of control, making some scenes almost unbearable to watch. Morgan herself was very mysterious and unpredictable, with a sense of fear emanating from her. Kate Mara delivered, and the fight scenes were watchable. It has its flaws, but overall, it was fun. I give it 62%. (21/08/2017)

Obviously more was expected from a horror film directed by Ridley Scott's son, but you have to start somewhere and I have little reason to grumble. On the plus side, the cast is very decent by B-movie standards. Young star Anya Taylor-Joy (The Witch) shines the brightest, but the rest of the more familiar acting faces are a joy to watch as well. The idea itself is interesting, I didn't find it too stupid, just not particularly intelligent either unfortunately, but the film is enjoyable to watch, the pacing is decent, the visuals are good and I liked the final killing sequence, even if the gore was pretty sparse. Based on the lukewarm reviews I expected worse, in the end I'm even surprised how watchable Morgan is. There's also an unexpected twist at the end. Story 5/10, Atmosphere 6/10, Gore 4/10, Visuals 7/10, Action 6/10, Suspense 6/10, Humour 0/10. Entertainment 7/10, Scares 0/10. (07/12/2016)

Morgan simply failed to make a good impression on me, and I had the feeling that I was watching something that the filmmakers didn't do a good job with. This was lazy work considering who they had available. In the end, the gore wasn't even something the film could boast about. For me, Morgan is a sci-fi horror film that I won't remember for long, or in fact not at all. It’s too bad, and I think more could have been done with it. (08/11/2017)