Anya Taylor-Joy may be best known for her breakthrough role in Netflix's hit TV series, The Queen's Gambit, as well as starring in The witch and most recently Last Night In Soho. However, Anya portrayed a villainous character in the 2016 thriller, Morgan. Anya portrays the title character, who is revealed to be an artificial intelligence project called L-9. Morgan looks and acts like a human, but is very intelligent and powerful.
In this sci-fi feature, Morgan's physical appearance resembles a teenager, but the biological organism is actually five years old, proving that it can walk, talk, and learn other activities much faster than human beings in a short amount of time. While Morgan can briefly convey emotions at times with doctors and scientists (many of whom consider "her" as their own child), the humanoid easily gets upset and physically violent, especially when being provoked or denied access to go outside the lab site (where she's mostly kept isolated to ensure the safety of every employee who works there).
Morgan Is An Intense Thriller That Lacks Identity
Morgan initially starts out as an intense psychological thriller in which all the characters are briefly introduced, including protagonist Lee Weathers (Kate Mara), a risk-management specialist for a company called SynSect, who goes to the lab site to investigate and analyze Morgan's behavior, as well as what led Morgan to stab one of her doctors, Kathy Grieff (Jennifer Jason Leigh), in the eye.
Weathers meets with all the faculty members who work at the lab, and appears nice and pleasant, but is actually a cold character because she doesn't trust anyone, including Morgan (who Weathers refers to as "it" and not "her" most of the time). Mara is precise and tough as Weathers, but her character is challenging to appreciate because her emotionality is non-existent (which is referenced in the end).
The rest of the cast, including Michelle Yeoh, Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger), and Rose Leslie (Game of Thrones), are admirable and emotionally invested in their roles as passionate doctors and researchers. However, they aren't given enough screen time to establish depth towards the film's psychological premise, which is partially torn apart when the feature turns into a violent bloodbath resulting in characters getting killed one by one (like a low-rent version of Alien, Predator, or The Thing).
Anya Taylor-Joy Is The Best Element Of Morgan
Along with Mara's and Leslie's roles as Weathers and Dr. Amy Menser respectively, Anya Taylor-Joy delivers the best performance as Morgan because she effectively displays her character's violent and emotional behaviors. When Morgan is first introduced to Weathers by her family of doctors, she acts kind and courteous (despite being in an enclosed room), but later on, her violent urges get the best of her emotions.
The intro also shows camera footage of Morgan's erratic outburst towards Dr. Grieff when she stabs her eye after being told she can't go outside. By displaying the attack through a surveillance camera, it reflects on how Morgan is still primarily a test subject more than a patient, which is why she gets angry. Morgan believes that she is a human being who came from a mother, and wants the freedom to do activities on her own.
One of the film's best moments involves Morgan having an unsettling conversation with a psychologist named Dr. Alan Shapiro (portrayed by Paul Giamatti in a brief but well-acted scene). Shapiro does a psych evaluation on Morgan in an attempt to figure out her mental state (what makes her happy and sad, how is she supposed to react towards difficult situations, etc.). Morgan is initially calm and honest when answering questions, but when Shapiro pressures her by asking what would happen if her privileges were to be taken away, Morgan snaps, biting Shapiro like a vampire, leaving him to bleed to death.
It's after this interrogation scene in which the film goes over the top and turns into a violent thriller, with Morgan killing nearly everyone with her super-strength like the Terminator. Regardless, Anya's portrayal of Morgan is a perfect villain because she is a misunderstood character who desperately wants to be like a normal person but will always be viewed as an uncontrollable monster (reminiscent of Frankenstein). Morgan and Weathers have a couple of physical fight sequences, displaying the strength of two "women" who know how to hurt others and defend themselves. Morgan also has a few intimate moments with Dr. Menser, which are impactful in showing Morgan's love and appreciation for nature and spending time outdoors (even though there's a sad part where Morgan views a deer on the ground and puts it out of its misery to stop its suffering).
Morgan is far from a perfect picture (especially due to the cold and brutal nature of its characters and the hardcore bloody violence), but it is a sci-fi thriller with a promising premise that raises psychological questions about whether genetically engineered beings can coexist with humans (similar to Keanu Reeves' sci-fi film Replicas in which a man resurrects his family by transferring their memories into human-like androids). Can organisms with artificial intelligence become more than just tough and intelligent objects? Can biological mechanisms have the ability to act more human and connect with others on an emotional level? Two things are for certain: the women in this feature are intense, and Anya Taylor-Joy should take on more complex villain roles like Morgan.