Dr. Morbius becomes dangerously ill from a rare blood disorder, injecting himself with an experimental serum intended to cure him; unfortunately, however, this only turns him into a bloodthirsty vampire instead. Now Dr. Morbius must battle these new urges while saving Milo from becoming his target.
Jared Leto boasts a remarkable resume but fails to bring life and spark to this film. He seems disinterested throughout, while its uninspired dialogue seems more suited for TV than cinema.
Plot
As with Venom and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse before, Morbius is part of Sony’s extended Spider-Man universe, but differs in that it does not star Spider-Man himself; instead opting for a different sort of Marvel-inspired blockbuster: mad scientist story. Jared Leto stars as Dr Michael Morbius – an acclaimed Nobel Prize-winning scientist suffering from rare blood disorders who ingests vampire bat blood serum to find relief; unfortunately this serum causes him thirstiness for human blood which becomes his mission in life – which makes him thirsty.
So he creates “the blue stuff” to ease his cravings, but that only works temporarily. Soon enough, however, his unquenchable thirst takes hold and forces him into doing what any self-respecting vampire would: kill. But in doing so he finds himself torn between helping Milo — another victim who consumed bat blood — become darker than before or honorably adhering to humanity and helping Milo turn into his more sinister doppelganger.
Daniel Espinosa (Safe House) directed and starred singer/songwriter Jared Leto as its main protagonist, while Adria Arjona and Matt Smith provided support as Leto’s doctor and friend respectively; unfortunately the acting remains mostly flat while its script features awkward dialogue.
Morbius’ greatest misfortune lies in its potential. It could have been an entertaining twist on the timeless tale of good men turned evil by an outside influence; and set within Spider-Man’s world, which would have made sense given Morbius’ history with him. Instead, we were treated to an amateurish film filled with repetitive bouts of pixel clouds colliding. And while its end credits sting promises that more developments may follow (including Tom Hardy in Kraven the Hunter film! ), its promise fails to bring anything that might help it save this mess of a movie.
Characters
Morbius attempts to be an origin story and features an expansive cast. Unfortunately, this doesn’t make for an engaging viewing experience: rather than allow the characters and world to develop naturally over time, Morbius resorts to quick exposition and lots of fast-paced fight scenes instead.
Its lack of care shows through in every scene, from the unnecessarily hasty introduction of vampire bats to how quickly and simply our main character develops his abilities. Unfortunately, this story simply doesn’t work despite all the talent involved.
Morbius the Living Vampire first debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #20 of 2012 and has become an ongoing villain since. Morbius even received his own limited series debut in 2017.
Dr. Morbius is an exceptional scientist but suffers from a rare blood disease which leaves him constantly thirsty. On a trip to Costa Rica in search of vampire bats, he discovers something which may cure his condition – unfortunately this requires him to consume artificial blood every four hours and twenty minutes; taking this risk turns him into a blood-sucking vampire!
He learns to manage his newfound power, yet finds it challenging to strike a balance between his scientific career and vampiric life. Worried by colleagues that he may become too dangerous, he decides to hide his true nature by adopting the name Living Vampire and working for the government as the Living Vampire.
Unfortunately, Morbius can no longer keep this secret hidden; his brother Milo knows of his transformation and kidnaps Martine Bancroft in order to force Morbius to change back. After saving her, Morbius realizes she remembers him and must give her some of his blood as proof.
After the movie’s disappointing box office performance, there had been talk of a sequel with Jared Leto as Morbius; however, Sony and Marvel are currently focused on producing Avengers spinoffs rather than continuing this tale elsewhere. Fans can however still witness what is in store for Morbius in this post-credits scene.
Effects
Morbius is one of those movies that has attracted much criticism on the Internet. But its reasons for failing are less clear than you might expect: its main character, Jekyll and Hyde-like creature with a rare blood disease which causes violent outbursts, attempts to cure himself by replacing some of his DNA with bat DNA, but it fails. Soon he becomes completely controlled by vampire-side personality of himself and begins snacking people throughout the night.
The movie’s shortcomings extend far beyond a lack of an engaging narrative; special effects are an additional issue; these appear like low-cost copies of vampire prosthetics from 90s Buffy the Vampire Slayer episodes, without providing any sense of intensity in action scenes that should capture any sense of excitement.
Morbius, the movie about a mutant bat-bloodsucker, is unexpectedly uninteresting. Jared Leto’s performance as the main character is so unengaging it’s impossible to care about him; quite different than when he played Joker in Suicide Squad where his intended menacing persona ended up becoming increasingly annoying over time.
This movie boasts an engaging premise, yet never fully delivers on it. Screenwriters Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless show great promise, yet director Daniel Espinosa fails to use his full potential by cutting context and nuance from every scene; leaving behind only an incomprehensible mess of chaos saved from complete disorientation by a post-credit scene with one of Spider-Man’s well-known antagonists.
Morbius marks yet another Sony-produced superhero movie to fall far short of expectations, having struggled since their acquisition of Marvel and attempts to merge multiple franchises into one narrative having proven unsuccessful so far. Time will tell whether Sony can turn things around; for now Morbius stands as an enormous disappointment.
Music
Jon Ekstrand’s score for “Pulp Fiction” is exquisite; using both electronic and orchestral elements to create an authentic cinematic feeling to the film, while his soundtrack captures its atmosphere perfectly. Pulsing and powerful, Ekstrand’s music brings depth and credibility to each scene in the movie, making the action all the more believable.
Jared Leto stars as Morbius, and gives it his all. He nails his performance of being both fragile yet powerful when facing off against vampires, yet remains solid throughout. Unfortunately, without an engaging script and story the film becomes more of a generic superhero adventure than it should.
Morbius is an action-packed sci-fi drama featuring horror elements and some violence, based on a Marvel comics character and starring Oscar winner Jared Leto. Packed with special effects, Morbius is best suited for older teens and adults but can teach children important values such as loyalty, determination and persistence. It makes an ideal family movie.
Dr Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) suffers from a rare blood condition and uses artificial blood as treatment for patients. On his travels to Costa Rica he traps several bats to conduct an experiment that will cure his illness; unfortunately his experiment turns him into a vampire-like figure craving human blood and possessing superhuman powers.
No doubt about it: the film was an absolute mess; yet somehow managed to find success at the box office despite its nonsensical plot and poor visuals. What saved it, however, were enjoyable performances from Leto and Smith who managed to save its soul with some great performances in key scenes.
Daniel Espinosa was an admirer of composers such as John Carpenter and Brad Fiedel, so it should come as no surprise that his soundtrack draws heavily upon their classic works. It features a dark and brooding blend of angry percussion, electronic manipulation, synths to convey unpredictability and moody synths that denote altered realities – plus needle drops of classic rock songs! Something you don’t find often enough nowadays in film soundtracks.