Morbius Review

Sony's latest villain-focused superhero movie, Morbius, never manages to get off the ground.

He's got enough charm to not be insufferable, but lacks any real distinct or unique characteristics beyond not wanting to be a murderer (most of the time) and not wanting to die himself (again, most of the time). Matt Smith puts in a valiant effort to do something interesting with Milo--he even has his very own goofy villain dance montage--but ultimately the script reduces him to yet another forgettable one-and-done bad guy. What is clear, unfortunately, is that Sony doesn't actually know what made the original Venom garner such an unexpected cult following to begin with and desperately wants to recreate the same fluke twice. The conflict is deeply generic and feels like a repeat of the first Venom movie's broadest strokes--minus, of course, the slapstick comedy and charm of Tom Hardy playing against himself. You won't be mad looking at it and it doesn't really overstay its welcome, but the second you take your eyes off it, you're probably going to forget you even saw it in the first place. But rather than the traditional "bitten by an immortal creature of the night" story, Morbius goes a direction befitting his '70s comic book origins--he splices his DNA with the DNA of vampire bats. Tom Hardy's charming and unexpected Venom may have paved the way for some interest in the superhero-less superhero universe, but since a spectacularly fizzled post credits scene teased and then immediately revoked his participation in the greater MCU, things have been confusing at best.

Before this moment, Dr. Michael Morbius (Leto) has traded in his rare blood condition for a case of vampirism, a Faustian bargain that's led the NYPD to finger ...

Such poor choices reveal a startling lack of imagination on the part of the filmmakers, who set out to make a vampire/superhero hybrid and wind up settling for two CG blobs hitting each other at the climax. With echoes of the worst cinematic version of the Green Goblin in the Arad/Tolmach-produced The Amazing Spider-Man 2, here is a poor little rich kid caricature who just does things so there can be a paper villain to knock down in Act Three. Worse served, however, is Smith. Generally a fascinating character actor who makes clever choices in his television projects, be it as the title character in Doctor Who during that series’ glory years or as the Duke of Edinburgh on The Crown, Smith continues to be saddled with thankless villain roles in his Hollywood endeavors. Which leaves audiences with nothing to cling to as the monotony drones on courtesy of a tedious script that collects banalities as if they were seashells. As yet another Spider-Man villain origin story without the Web-Head, Morbius begins at a point of intrigue in the Costa Rican rainforest and then jumps back in time. About midway through Sony Pictures and Marvel’s Morbius—a monstrous union of bottom of the barrel intellectual property and fiscal year planning— Jared Leto’s title character is in the belly of the beast.

The Jared Leto-led film sees Doctor Michael Morbius accidentally turn himself into a vampire after trying to cure his rare blood disease. The character is ...

The vampire faces can look really silly, and make it hard to latch onto any tension, or air of danger, that the story is trying to create. It is hard to make out what was happening in any of the final action sequences as they unfolded on screen. It's hard to discern what the surroundings were or what was even happening as characters threw punches. But the finishing act is where it all crashes down the hardest. It’s pretty evident that the studio wanted to put all of those nods in the trailers to lure viewers into theaters, and not because any of it was organic to the story being told. Also, the design of Morbius is fantastic. The fluid way Morbius moves in action, with the wispy smoke trails following him, was a fantastic choice that made his abilities visually pleasing for audiences to watch. As for the film itself, the story moves at a fast pace; to a fault. Comparing Morbius to what was done with Tom Hardy’s Venom character, the symbiote, while portrayed as the story’s hero, still retains enough of his villainous roots, keeping him firmly in that Anti-Hero category. Instead, it was all rushed into play, causing characters to make drastic choices simply because the plot demanded it. Sony threw in references to every live-action Spider-Man, yet most of them didn’t make it into the final product; no Tobey Maguire graffiti or Oscorp building being two of those examples. Given this critical and financial win, many might see it as a sign that Sony Pictures could be back on track with its own Spider-Man plans, the next of which being Morbius.

Jared Leto plays Marvel's resident living vampire in lifeless new movie 'Morbius,' a superhero horror effort that fails in pretty much every way.

Coming off of Leto’s enjoyably campy turn in “House of Gucci,” his Morbius – best described as a goth-friendly mix of Popeye, Dracula and the Hulk – is a dour disappointment. And Michael Keaton reprises his role as the Vulture from “Spider-Man: Homecoming” although he also seems to be wondering why he’s there. The gonzo “Venom” movies know and proudly own what they are. The whole thing is pretty silly – apparently being a “living vampire” means he’s got a weird bat face rather than one of those sexy “Twilight” vamps – and extremely derivative. “You would not like to see me when I’m hungry,” Morbius says with a stern face, aping the old “Incredible Hulk” TV show. With the help of fellow doctor (and love interest) Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona), he thinks he’s finally cracked it and tries it out on himself, leading to a transformation into a buff dude with superhuman strength, crazy jumping abilities and sweet echolocation skills.

The tired and gloomy new Marvel movie “Morbius,” which is made by Sony and not part of the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe, suffers from chronic ...

Of course, Dr. Morbius (Jared Leto) is gonna become Batboy. Of course, Milo (Matt Smith) is gonna want in on the action. Leto is at his best when he isn’t flying around hissing and using echolocation. We’re also aware that there are many, many better vampire stories than Count Dreckula here (check out the Netflix series “Midnight Mass”) and not much sets this one apart besides its sexlessness and lack of wit. Aesthetically it steals from a lot of what came before it. Here, there are only opportunities for Leto to be a creep and wildly contort his body. The viewer struggles to care.

Sony's Spider-Man Universe has its first expansion out of Venom territory with Morbius, the Jared Leto-led superhero flick about a so-called “Living Vampire.” ...

Morbius feels churned out of a Superhero Movie factory, made from stock parts — except for Matt Smith’s portrayal of Milo. He appears to have just waltzed off the set of Venom: Let There Be Carnage, allowing his dapper underworld adventurer a colorfulness the film desperately needs. Sony’s reliance on digital renders for Venom and Carnage work because there’s an absurdity to their roles as actors talk to themselves, which isn’t a benefit of Morbius. Here, audiences are fed exactly what they’re most likely expecting from this bargain-bat origin that’s a bit exhausting until too late. There’s a lacking energy behind Dr. Morbius’ condition because we know he’ll eventually go all man-bat, nor is there any attempt to creatively dump exposition that could have been read as an introductory text scroll. Morbius works alongside scientist and eventual romantic interest Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) in the name of his ailing best friend Milo (Matt Smith) since their early private health care treatments. His acclaim, and his company Horizon’s breakthrough, is an artificial blood that has saved countless lives — the seafoam-colored liquid represents one of the film’s outlying blasts of color amidst putrid darkness. Sony’s Spider-Man Universe has its first expansion out of Venom territory with Morbius, the Jared Leto-led superhero flick about a so-called “Living Vampire.” Director Daniel Espinosa approaches this bat-man’s beginnings with horror flourishes once seen in his sci-fi thriller Life, but they’re never pronounced enough that they’ll satisfy horror audiences.

Jared Leto stars in Daniel Espinosa's stylish horror-action franchise start-up about a scientist with a rare blood disease.

Hers is a reasonable, albeit predictable concern — after all, horror fiction has long been populated by scientists who foolishly dare to play god — but this consistently enjoyable franchise start-up manages to find enough new ways to tinker with the formula. Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless’ screenplay positions the two men as childhood chums who will be torn apart by their different attitudes toward their transformation — Michael fearful of what he has become, Milo drunk on his newfound vitality — but while the characters are not well-developed, Leto and Smith bring enough emotion to make their feud adequately poignant. But when Michael begins to wrestle with the repercussions of his experiment, Leto is largely reigned in, despite the scientist’s penchant for guzzling blood packs to quell his cravings. After accidentally killing a few security guards in his heightened state, Michael is chased by the cops and must figure out a way to stabilise his terrifying new condition. Leto is an Oscar-winner who has dabbled in superhero cinema before, portraying the Joker in 2016’s Suicide Squad, and he is joined by Matt Smith, whose witty menace lends an extra spark to the proceedings. This horror-action picture offers modest genre pleasures and a consistently spooky vibe, resulting in a film that has been designed chiefly to ensure future sequels, although the story includes enough emotional shading and robust set pieces to be an engaging standalone feature.