Desperate for a cure for his unnamed blood disease, renowned biochemist Dr Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), captures vampire bats from a cave in Costa Rica in order to use their DNA for a cure. As a child, Morbius received treatment for his disease in Greece, where he met his surrogate father, Dr Emil Nicholas (Jared Harris), and lifelong BFF, Lucian, AKA Milo (Matt Smith). As an adult, Milo now funds Morbius’ morally dubious research in combining bat DNA with human DNA and with the help of fellow doctor/love interest Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona), Morbius conducts an experiment on himself.
This experiment subsequently turns him into a living vampire, thirsty for human blood. Desperate to be normal, Milo steals the “cure” and becomes the story’s villain. Milo thoroughly enjoys being a Lost Boys vampire, which leads to conflict, and a visually hard-to-follow CGI battle. As expected, this film connects to the MCU multiverse, and the concept of the Sinister Six is introduced by Michael Keaton’s Vulture. Keaton’s eventual appearance was announced, so it wasn’t a huge surprise.
The opening shots of Costa Rica were beautiful, and I thought the camera work was interesting. Alas, that was short-lived. The way the twists and turns were shot, and the trippy echolocation, made me feel slightly ill and gave me a nice headache.
Where to start with Jared Leto? I don’t know when Hollywood will finally catch on and realize he is not a box office draw. I think he’s pretty insufferable and I don’t know why he took the role so seriously for the majority of the time as this character is maybe a second-tier Spider-Man villain? He was unpleasant to watch and Leto and Smith’s roles should have been switched.
Matt Smith was the standout for me and the most entertaining part of the film. He was goofy and the complete opposite of Leto. Was it on purpose? To balance each other out? Who knows? The film’s best and most talked-about scene was him admiring his abs and dancing by himself which had the same energy as Sam Rockwell’s vibe break in Charlie’s Angels.
Morbius was a mixed bag as far as the rest of the cast. Jared Harris was absolutely wasted and only used to advance the plot twice, although his character was a little more intriguing than the rest of the group. As a romantic interest, Adria Arjona’s Bancroft was just there, contributing little to nothing to the film.
I can’t help but compare Morbius to the two Venom films. At least those were entertaining and didn’t try to be serious. Morbius should have been banished to VOD two years ago. It just wasn’t any fun; it was lifeless and banal. I started internally debating whether to put bacon on the egg sandwich I would make myself when I got home. I shouldn’t be making a critical bacon decision while watching a movie in an empty theatre.
Who exactly was Morbius made for? Thirsty Jared Leto fans? Fans of big dumb action films? If you want to spend two hours watching a movie in the Spiderverse, pass on Morbius and re-watch Spider-Man (2002).
5.2
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I’m a Data Analyst, from the land of Matthew McConaughey. I’m an avid movie-goer and love seeing films in theaters. My most recent favorite films are Good Time, Only Lovers Left Alive, TENET, and England is Mine. When I’m not at the movies, I’m either reading or watching obscene amount of true crime and historical documentaries.
