Directed by Luke Scott (son of Ridley), the film adheres to that well worn sci-fi template.....the cadre of well meaning scientists who unsuccessfully try to control either an amazing otherwordly discovery or one of their own cooked-up-in-the-lab creations. Whether the entity in question is alien or homegrown, you can bet your bunsen burner that sooner or later, things will go....as they say in 1950's sci-fi movies.....horribly awry.
The entity here is Morgan,(Anya Taylor-Joy), a slapped together artificial DNA cocktail who at first glance, resembles a sullen teen girl in a hoodie. Incarcerated in a glass-walled cell like Hannibal Lector, she listens to classical music and indifferently spouts faux-polite HAL 9000 banter until you piss her off.....in which case she might tear a chunk out of your neck or stab your eyeball repeatedly with a fork. (qualifying her as either a reality show contestant or a White House spokesperson)
Morgan's obviously been bred as some kind of unstoppable Jason Bourne killing machine, but her scientific team creators still dote on her as if they've assembled the new adorable American Girl Doll.
The team's delusional view of Morgan doesn't play well with the two visitors sent out to the secluded lab by the corporation funding all this frivolity.......a cool, emotionless investigator (Kate Mara) and an impatient, glib shrink. (Paul Giamatti).
The shrink launches a hot-tempered interrogation of Morgan (and as you might expect, Giamatti tears through this scene like a hungry tiger gnawing on red meat) It's a stupid sequence designed mainly to goose up the film's trailer and its inevitable conclusion officially signals the all-hell-breaks-loose part of the story. From that point on, people die horribly, their deaths periodically interrupted by bruising Bourne-worthy smackdowns between Taylor-Joy and Mara,
And that's all this brief, nasty little movie has to offer, other than the great pride it takes in its one pathetic plot twist. The cast is 'Morgan's only saving grace, with Taylor-Joy superb at conveying pent up ferocity just waiting to explode and a host of other actors this movie doesn't deserve....Toby Jones, Jennifer Jason Leigh (as the hapless forked eyeball lady) and Michelle Yeoh.
Without this cast, BQ wouldn't have found a single star to hand out to this short pile of gruesome poo. For them alone, we'll splice together enough DNA to make 1 star (*) Trust us, there's no Better Living Through Chemistry here.......
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