After the success of its Venom films, Sony is revisiting one of Spider-Man’s lesser-known villains with Morbius, but unfortunately this film’s generic plot and characters leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
Leto gives a solid performance, but his teeth-baring monster scientist character is far from memorable. Matt Smith as Milo saves this film with his dapper flair and charismatic performance.
Jared Leto
Leto has had prior experience playing comic-book villains like the Joker in Suicide Squad and Adrian Toomes in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), yet Morbius feels more like an act-out movie. Full of the same mindless action found in Venom or Venom: Let There Be Carnage movies but without an engaging plot or relatable main character, Morbius fails to hold our interest throughout.
After opening in a cave populated by vampire bats, the film introduces us to Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a world-renowned scientist battling a rare blood disease which requires them to depend on regular transfusions for survival. Through a series of aggressive exposition scenes, Morbius demonstrates his research is missing one final piece and believes he may have found it within vampire bats.
Morbius decides to undertake the dangerous challenge of turning himself into a vampire to test his theory, only to discover some unexpected side effects, including an increased hunger for blood and thirst for power, superhuman strength, and the ability to glide on air currents.
Although the visual effects in this movie are competent enough, watching Morbius strike down on his prey or fly past New York City skyscrapers leaves one feeling rather flat. Furthermore, its dark-on-black cinematography lacks any sense of Gothic splendor; digital effects become so heavy as to obscure actors’ faces entirely.
Leto gets some time to shine as an actor in Morbius, with some memorable lines delivered and his stoic delivery and quick wit making up for some plotholes in the script. But even his best efforts may not save a film destined to end up on DVD for cheap viewing decades from now. Unfortunately, Morbius contains intriguing ideas which deserve better treatment than being forgotten so quickly.
Adria Arjona
Sony has made much of Morbius, Marvel’s lesser-known “living vampire” created to torment Spider-Man since 1971, making his big-screen debut this summer in Morbius: Lives On Screen (Vampire Lives). However, this film fails to live up to expectations with an inexcusably dull script and an array of action sequences which would look out of place alongside The Matrix back in 1999; there is also no discernable human presence whatsoever within Morbius himself.
Jared Leto remains outstanding as ever in his portrayal of Doctor, though no other actor could easily fill this role at this point. After dedicating most of his adult life searching for a cure to his blood disorder that’s slowly taking his life away, now all he wants to do is pass time in an increasingly miserable existence.
To do that, he is given superhuman abilities via a serum combining his DNA with that of a bat. While these newfound powers bring him much joy, they also come at the cost of neccessitating him drinking enough human blood in order to use them – making him both an asset and threat in Manhattan as well as within his own gang and FBI agents like Stroud (Matt Smith) and Rodriguez (Al Madrigal).
Storywise, the film doesn’t break new ground but still provides some interesting aspects of vampire mythology. Echo-location powers ricocheting off walls and across New York City streets is one example; slow-mo sequences provide another; most notably an extended fight-and-flight scene through a subway station is another highlight.
Unfortunately, these are only fleeting moments of joy and excitement in an otherwise depressing film. Adria Arjona as Morbius’ right-hand woman and love interest stands out, although their chemistry seems limited and romance undernourished. Meanwhile, supporting characters such as Jared Harris (Morbius’ mentor) and Tyrese Gibson (FBI agent Simon Stroud) seem lifeless and unmotivated to do anything meaningful onscreen.
Matt Smith
As with Sony’s other Spider-Man spin-offs, Morbius is another budget origin story which takes liberally from genre predecessors without adding anything of substance or originality to the mix. It lacks both the snark and humor found in Venom and Carnage movies as well as their eye-opening visual spectacle, rendering this cheap movie less entertaining for audiences than its peers. Furthermore, audiences won’t feel invested or threatened while watching Morbius.
Jared Leto delivers another impressive performance as an enigmatic villain, but unfortunately his script gives him little material for development in this film. While performing moral heroics is one of his main duties, Leto also faces awkward dialogue and awkward scenes from Adria Arjona (his love interest). Additionally, much of this movie feels rushed and incomplete compared to its source material – with many supporting characters being underdeveloped or lacking depth altogether.
Matt Smith excels as Milo, the dapper underworld adventurer from Venom: Let There Be Carnage. He brings an air of charismatic exuberance that allows his character to stand out compared to Leto’s dour vampire; his energetic antics provide Venom with some comic energy.
The film offers some promising action scenes, but they remain mostly generic and formulaic. A palette of grim greys and sickly greens dominates its settings while costumes remain functional yet forgettable. Effects also don’t impress much either with slow-motion battles looking similar to Buffy The Vampire Slayer’s prosthetics.
Still, its fast pace gives this movie some momentum; unfortunately, its narrative cannot keep pace and eventually unravels under its own weight. Furthermore, this Marvel-inspired film lacks any compelling backstory or worldbuilding elements which would help make it more captivating or memorable; although Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal do provide some strong supporting performances which help elevate some clumsy or underwhelming scenes in this underwhelming and lackluster film – such as elevating some clunky dialogue or scenes – making up for its shortcomings and failed potential. It was such a shame so much potential was wasted with this movie trying to do too many things at once only to ultimately fail on all fronts; thus failing in every respect possible.
Daniel Espinosa
Daniel Espinosa of Morbius recently discussed its mixed critical response in an interview with Insider. While pleased that the film has performed better at box office than critics have given credit for, Espinosa noted that dealing with criticism has been difficult.
At its core, Morbius failed for many reasons: its story wasn’t particularly captivating and characters weren’t dynamic enough; moreover, it failed to capture the sense of danger and addiction associated with vampire movies; action sequences weren’t particularly thrilling either.
Critics’ verdict may have been predictable, yet it remains disappointing that such a promising filmmaker made such a misstep. Still, fans of Jared Leto as Kraven found an audience for this film and it seems likely that more films featuring Kraven will follow.
Morbius is an incoherent Frankenstein of a movie with its confusing plot and subpar writing (embarrassing jokes like “echoelocation is bat radar for the uninitiated”) as well as uneven pacing, featuring scenes that don’t connect cohesively to one another.
Michael Morbius is a scientist suffering from an extremely rare blood disease who attempts to cure himself through genetic modification by taking an unconventional route: splicing bat DNA with his own. Unfortunately, however, his experiment works successfully but leaves an unexpected side effect: turning him into a vampire!
Morbius provides modest genre pleasures despite its flaws. Director Daniel Espinosa excels at merging horror and action, creating a consistent spooky tone in the film. Though Morbius lacks more thoughtful storytelling, it still provides Sony’s expanded Spider-Man Universe an impressive entry. Furthermore, Jared Leto and Adria Arjona give strong performances as part of its cast.