Scientists clone an artificial human and monitor “it” as she grows at an accelerated rate. After years of study, Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy) finally snaps and stabs one of the doctors in the eye. You know that “1000 days without an incident” sign in the break room? You’re gonna have to flip that number back down to 0.
Corporate is having a cow that their prized asset went haywire, so they send a suit (Kate Mara) to assess the situation. It’s her job to see if Morgan can be trusted not to violently lash out again. If she does, it will mean she will have to be terminated. I guess you can figure out how that goes.
The film is at its best in the first act. This stretch feels like a John Hughes version of Ex Machina. Director Luke Scott (Ridley’s son) doesn’t have much style to speak of, but he builds the tension slowly, but assuredly. Things kind of go out the window during the second act as Morgan’s psychotic tendencies are unleashed and she turns against her creators. Here, the movie sort of morphs into your typical slasher scenario. While this portion of the flick isn’t great, it’s marginally better than the final act which sees Taylor-Joy and Mara squaring off and Kung Fu-ing the crap out of one another. Although it’s not exactly bad, it just shifts gears too often to work as a cohesive whole. Like the main character, it feels like it was created in a lab and not made organically.
Fortunately, the cast is stacked cast from top to bottom with heavy hitters. Taylor-Joy does a fine job in the lead, but the supporting players are the glue that holds everything together and prevents the film from completely unraveling. I mean it’s hard to hate any movie that contains Boyd Holbrook, Michelle Yeoh, Brian Cox, Toby Jones, Paul Giamatti, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Mara, on the other hand, is far too bland in a crucial role. Then again, maybe that was intentional all along, given the big plot twist at the end.
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