Morbius — Movie Review
by KJ Proulx
I have been a fan of Marvel films since I was a kid and I always try to look for the good in them first, simply because I don’t enjoy disliking them. When a superhero story is told very well, they’re some of my favourite stories out there. When Sony began to branch out their Spider-Man universe and make villain films, I was very worried. I had some fun with both Venom films, but neither were great by any means. Well, the latest Sony/Marvel villain film, Morbius, has just hit the big screen, and it’s not good, which is saying a lot coming from me.
Trying to cure himself of a rare condition, Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) discovers that there may be a cure hidden in the blood of bats. After injecting himself to find out, he morphs himself into some kind of vampire. From here, he begins to lose control, creating casualties along the way. His best friend Milo (Matt Smith) also has this condition, so I’m sure you can guess where the villain storyline comes into play here. So now that you have the just of the premise, let’s dive in.
Firstly, I’m not going to ignore the elements that worked for me overall. I’ll admit that this is the best I’ve seen from Jared Leto in a while and the chemistry he shared with Martine (Adria Arjona) was absolutely a highlight of the film. The tone suits what’s going on and I enjoyed the look of it overall, but the tone and slow pacing eventually grind the film to a halt on a few occasions. I’m also all for a darker hero/anti-hero story in the Marvel universe because we haven’t had much of that, but there just wasn’t enough of a good story being told to back that up. There was an effort here, it just didn’t work for me.
So, why didn’t this film work? Well, I was instantly turned off by the first scene, as the discovery of the bats is literally the opening sequence. Just a couple of scenes later he’s already injecting himself and the cure begins to work. It’s almost like the first act of the film was condensed to five minutes. Moving along, there are many scenes of dialogue that drag on, while the important plot points seem to be brushed over as bullet points. Morbius is so focused on getting to the good stuff, but it’s sacrificing its characters in the process. On top of not really caring about what was going on, the finale just felt like another CGI fight that lasts for about 20 minutes. Those sequences can be tolerable or even great if they’re part of a good film, but I just found myself rolling my eyes this time.
In the end, Morbius is a film that takes place in the same world as Venom (maybe?) and Spider-Man (maybe?), but I was too confused with the conclusion of the film to really know where it takes place. I’d almost say it takes place in its own world. Morbius is a movie that clearly feels tampered with in post-production, and not in a good way. I do like Jared Leto as this character so I will gladly sit through a film that includes him, but I really don’t care to see a series of films based solely on Morbius. Once the credits rolled I had no desire to recommend it to anyone and I can’t see myself revisiting it, unless necessary. Morbius, even with low expectations on my part, sadly disappointed me.
Rating: 1.5/5
Check out the trailer below:
