Common clichés and tropes in sci-fi movies should be things to avoid when creating a movie, but they seem to be the source of every aspect of “Morgan,” advertised as a sci-fi horror cautionary tale of the danger of artificial intelligence in human bodies.

There is a difference between an action-packed movie and a movie with action, and the trailers for “Morgan” promised the former, while the film delivers the latter. Despite the simplicity of the setup and premise, the film spends half its time attempting to develop the characters of the team of scientists, yet nearly half the group members do not have clear reasons to be there. Morgan is the only character that has more than one dimension, but he is not much more than that.

As thin as the script and character development were, the quality of the performances exceeds expectations. The highlight performance of Morgan given by Anya Taylor-Joy, who powerfully kept Morgan fairly monotone until pushed too far. The young actress was able to make Morgan the most human character despite Morgan not being human. Kate Mara also successfully kept emotion out of her performance of a calculating character. The other actors gave surprisingly layered performances, considering the thin script, but the problem with the disparity between the quality of the script and the quality of the acting is what it is because the actors gave strong performances, making it feel like they were overacting throughout the film.

Despite being advertised as a horror movie, the film lacks any intensity until its third act, and the only source of intensity is a rising body count. Just within the set of action sequences that conclude the film, there were multiple instances that could have been jump scares—albeit not strong or startling scares—but Luke Scott’s directorial choices eliminated the surprise of every single potential scare.

Along the lines of the film’s predictability, no idea or theme was fresh or thought-provoking. The most predictable moment of the film may be the final one, a twist that has been done before and could be predicted within the first half hour of the film.
The only redeeming quality of “Morgan”—the acting—is undermined by every other aspect of the movie. Ninety minutes and $15 later, nothing is gained from “Morgan.”