| Director | Luke Scott |
|---|---|
| Genre | horror film, mystery film, science fiction action film, thriller film |
| Runtime | 92 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $8 million |
| Box office | $8.8 million |
Lee Weathers is a "risk-management specialist" for genetic-engineering company SynSect. She arrives at a rural site hosting its L-9 project, an artificial being with nanotechnology-infused synthetic DNA named Morgan. The "hybrid biological organism with the capacity for autonomous decision making and sophisticated emotional responses" is smarter than humans and has matured quickly, walking and talking within a month and already physically equivalent to a young teenage girl despite being born only five years before.
The cold and precise Weathers, who insists on calling Morgan "it", is at the site to assess the project while a psychologist evaluates Morgan, who has used a pen to stab Dr. Kathy Grieff in the eye. Over dinner with the team of eight scientists, Weathers and project leaders Dr. Lui Cheng and Dr. Simon Ziegler discuss an incident in Helsinki involving Cheng in which 21 SynSect researchers were killed in an hour by "crude prototypes".
Lee learns that Morgan attacked Grieff when she was prohibited from leaving her room, a glass cell, after killing a deer impaled on a tree branch, out of compassion for its suffering, while exploring outside. The scientists have reared Morgan from birth following two failed attempts, and most consider her to be their child; Grieff defends Morgan to Weathers despite her injury, and Dr. Amy Menser wants to resume taking her on outings. Menser promises to take Morgan to a nearby lake that she describes as wonderful; the behavioral therapist understands that Morgan is, despite her intellect and physical appearance and abilities, emotionally strange. Although Morgan considers Cheng to be her "mother", the scientist is pessimistic about the project; she admits to Weathers that she ended the outings as it is cruel to expose Morgan to a world she cannot be allowed to enter.
Psychologist and artificial intelligence expert Dr. Alan Shapiro arrives to assess Morgan and quickly defies the scientists' requests to stay outside Morgan's room for the assessment. When Shapiro aggressively taunts Morgan as part of his evaluation, she looks at her hand, becomes angry and spontaneously kills him. Weathers tranquilizes Morgan after a brief escape, and decides that she is too unpredictable and must be terminated. The scientists refuse to kill Morgan; before Weathers can do so, they shoot her with a tranquilizer dart and imprison her in the cell in which Morgan was held. The scientists plan to escape with Morgan, but after waking, Morgan, believing they have betrayed her starts a killing spree. She kills Darren with a lethal injection, shoots Ted in the chest and the head, and beats Brenda to death with a pistol. Ziegler, unaware of the murders, commits suicide after realizing his life's work turned into a failure.
In the scientists' house, Cheng records an apology for the failure of the project. The scientists tried to make Morgan "more human" than the previous attempts so she could exceed her design as a combat weapon, but found that the result was harder to control. Morgan arrives at the house and kills a confused Grieff. After conversing with her "mother" in Chinese, Morgan then manually suffocates Cheng. Weathers escapes the cell and briefly fights Morgan, able to match her. Morgan flees with the terrified Menser, who Morgan says is the only scientist who was a real friend to her.
Weathers and nutritionist Skip Vronsky follow the pair. Vronsky deduces that Morgan has forced Menser to take her to the lake, which entrances Morgan. She and Weathers fight again, seemingly matched in strength and speed. Morgan knocks down Weathers, who is impaled on the branch of a fallen tree. Morgan flees again and meets with Menser at the pier but Weathers, having survived the impaling, appears and forcibly drowns her. She then shoots Menser and Vronsky, apologizing first, before leaving the scene.
Weathers's superior at SynSect and another executive discuss the incident. They decide that it proves that the company's earlier L-4 project is superior. When the executive asks about Weathers, the superior says she is perfect, revealing that Weathers is actually the L-4 prototype, lacking much of the emotional development Morgan had. While sitting in a diner, Weathers looks at her hands in the same way Morgan did.