'Morgan' Will Be This Year's 'Ex Machina'

If you were one of the few poor souls who managed to catch Independence Day: Resurgence this weekend you probably saw a trailer that was better than the movie that followed it. That trailer was for the sci-fi thriller Morgan, the directorial debut of Luke Scot, son of Blade Runner and Alien filmmaker Ridley Scott.

Morgan looks to be the same sort of vivid, action-packed movie that his father made time and again. We first saw the shadowy teaser for Morgan in May, and just a month later, we get the best official tease at the movie yet.

When an artificial being named Morgan (Anya Taylor-Joy), created by a secret government organization, begins evolving beyond control — causing an “incident” that leaves her containment facility nearly destroyed — a corporate fixer played by Kate Mara is summoned to assess the damage and negotiate Morgan’s “termination.” Things, quite obviously, don’t go according to plan. Per an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Scott says the movie is about “the creation of a being that is greater than the creator.”

Take a look at his creation below:

Taylor-Joy seemingly came out of nowhere to give one of the best performances of the year in The Witch, and Morgan seems like a worthy follow up to showcase her star-making talents. In this case, there will be a fewer demonic goats and more highly evolved action. But like The Witch, the subtext of Morgan looks like it will explore the agency and power of young womanhood, though the woman in question here is an artificial being with special-ops training and possibly telekinesis.

The trailer for Morgan makes the movie out to be like a modern version of Frankenstein, and a great cautionary tale about human scientific hubris, which is also reminiscent of another thought-provoking contemporary sci-fi thriller.

Director Alex Garland’s 2015 film Ex Machina starred Alicia Vikander as another synthetic female (in that case, a sentient robot) revolting against her makers. Like Ex Machina, this first official trailer for Morgan mostly plays up the action angle of the movie. While we love explosions and hand-to-hand combat, we’re also hoping for a similarly cerebral sci-fi story that’ll make us think – as it thrills.

Besides Mara and Taylor-Joy, the cast also includes Toby Jones, Rose Leslie, Boyd Holbrook, Michelle Yeoh, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Paul Giamatti.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“A corporate troubleshooter (Kate Mara) is sent to a remote, top-secret location, where she is to investigate and evaluate a terrifying accident. She learns the event was triggered by a seemingly innocent “human,” who presents a mystery of both infinite promise and incalculable danger.”

Morgan opens in theaters on September 2.