Morgan is not like other girls … because she isn’t a girl at all. She’s been engineered; a synthetic A.I. being created in a lab, and this lab experiment isn’t going according to plan in this new dark science fiction tale helmed by first time director Luke Scott. Find out what we think of Morgan after the jump below.

In the summer of 1982, director Ridley Scott’s dystopian science fiction film Blade Runner hit screens worldwide. In Blade Runner, Scott, along with screenwriters Hampton Fancher and David Peoples working from a story written by Phillip K. Dick, crafted a world where corporations create synthetic humans for profit and labor and employ private contractors to terminate rogue replicants should they fail to meet their maker’s expectations and come to think for themselves.

It’s only fitting that Ridley Scott’s son, director Luke Scott, should feel the pull to explore familar territory in his directorial debut Morgan, hitting theaters Friday, September 2nd. Morgan starts off by introducing us to corporate risk management assessor Lee Weathers (played by House of Cards Kate Mara). Lee is a no nonsense employee of SynSECT Systems, a corporation not unlike Weyland-Yutani in the Alien/Prometheus franchise or the Tyrell Corporation in Blade Runner. SynSECT creates synthetic life forms for profit and Lee is sent to inspect the viability of their newest lifeform, “Morgan” (played by The Witch‘s Anya-Taylor-Joy). Morgan is the most advanced prototype A.I. created, one that SynSECT has spent 7 years developing; one that has had a recent incident making the company question its viability and Lee is giving full authority in deciding what should be done with Morgan. Lee travels to the isolated company facility where Morgan was developed and finds the team is very proud of their achievement with Morgan and maybe reluctant to see an outside perspective on what Morgan may be turning into.

In many ways, the dynamic between Mara’s Lee and the team is very reminiscent of the work in Alex Garland’s 2015 film Ex Machina to which Morgan is very comparable. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Rose Leslie’s roles in particular have a slight bent to them which makes both of their characters, a project scientist and psychological behaviorist respectively, fascinating to watch. You can tell that both of them have grown too attached to Morgan and it has cost them, but both are oblivious to it because of the isolated nature of the company retreat. Leslie and Taylor-Joy have tremendous chemistry together and their scenes are very interesting as they suggest their friendship may be something more or that one is manipulating the other to their own end. This overall dynamic of unease sets up a tension between Lee and the team, especially the project head Dr. Simon Ziegler (played by Toby Jones) & Leigh’s character Kathy Grieff, who feel Lee is there as a mere pretext for shutting Morgan down.

The less you know about Morgan going into the film, the better off you are as a a viewer coming into it. The film spends a lot of time exploring what is the nature of an artificial being and the nods to Blade Runner are difficult to miss. Though the film is marketed as a horror film, it does land much more in the realm of science fiction given the arguments made as to whether Morgan understands her actions and the relationship between humans and technology explored in the film. It owes much to films like 1982’s The Thing and 2010’s Splice and there’s much more to Morgan than is revealed in the promotional materials that makes the film demand a repeat viewing.

Morgan is a welcome addition to the canon of science fiction films dealing with the repercussions of developing a human-like A.I. The performances throughout the film are very strong and benefits from excellent casting choices. Michelle Yeoh’s role as a researcher who has been through a prior company scrubbing when an A.I. has gone rogue in the past does a lot with little. Paul Giamatti’s small supporting role as a psychologist doing an evaluation of Morgan provides a great setpiece in the film and one that really lets Giamatti shine as well as providing genuine tension. Anya Taylor-Joy really stands out in this role as well, continuing her breakout year since the release of A24’s The Witch this year. This is a role where Taylor-Joy didn’t have to do much in principle, but she imbues Morgan with an alluring yet alien quality where she tries to be whatever those around her want her to be. It keeps it nebulous whether she has any intentions or is just trying to form connections to understand the world around her. Similarly, Kate Mara’s Lee is a very interesting character and Mara plays her as someone who is weary of their job but committed to following through on her objectives; no matter the cost. Luke Scott does a solid job in directing the film, letting shots breathe to ratchet up tension and shake expectations at several turns and an interesting use of light and reflection throughout which serves as foreshadowing in some cases.

Morgan is one of the best science fiction films this year. It’s a different entity than Ex Machina but trods similar ground to that and Blade Runner. If you are a fan of those films, you will certainly find something to enjoy in Morgan.