Watch Marvel and Sony’s new superhero film Morbius, a group of teenagers behind me were debating whether they needed to have watched previous films before seeing this one. This would have been a ludicrous question fifteen years ago. However, in the post-MCU era, it is a reasonable question. What does one superhero movie have to do with the hundreds of others I may have missed? Morbius, on the other hand, does and does not. It strives to stand alone while incorporating Easter eggs from the bigger Sony-Marvel universe. The only problem is that it does it in the most obnoxious and uninteresting way possible.
Morbius, to put it bluntly, is the poorest of the Sony-Marvel slate of films. Given Sony’s track record of releasing mediocre pictures like Fantastic 4, that’s a rather low bar to clear. Morbius can compete with even DC’s worst products in terms of how bad it is.
Morbius’ idea is straightforward. While attempting to cure himself of a rare blood ailment, scientist Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) becomes infected with a sort of vampirism. Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Tyrese Gibson, and Jared Harris present a superb supporting cast for director Daniel Espinosa’s hero. However, due to terrible writing, it all falls short.
Morbius employs many of the cliches that were popular in 1990s superhero films, including a troubled hero, a friend-turned-enemy villain, a good-looking scientist/doctor who is the protagonist’s love interest, and a father figure played by a well-known actor. The truth is, the Marvel Cinematic Universe debuted in 2008 and either replaced or expanded upon these clichés (Guardians of the Galaxy) (Thor). Even DC developed with the passage of time, giving us The Batman only four weeks ago. Morbius feels tragically out of place and out of time in the midst of all of this.
The movie doesn’t spare any time introducing the characters and their motivations. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait It is completely uninterested in doing so. The narrative’s lynchpin is Michael’s friendship with his surrogate brother Milo (Matt Smith), as well as Michael’s desire to preserve their lives, yet you never care about that link. As a result, when it eventually disintegrates, you don’t feel anything. Michael and his subordinate Dr Martine Bancroft (played by Adria) have a forced romance. You are so uninterested in the characters that when a handful of them die, you are unaffected. It detracts from the story’s overall appeal.
The narrative contains several allusions to Venom and Spider-Man. Morbius was affiliated with these characters in Marvel Comics, so it makes sense. However, this appears to be poor product placement. With its various post-credits sequences, Morbius even tries to construct a broader world by introducing an MCU character. Morbius, though, falls flat here as well, given how Marvel has mastered the art of creating crisp post-credit sequences. The sequences appear to be a clumsy attempt to link Morbius to a greater cosmos. It doesn’t feel natural in the least.
Jared Leto, on the other hand, should reconsider his professional choices. An actor with so much potential should not be limited to his current role. Much of what he has touched in the previous five years has gone to ash. His Joker was situated between Heath Ledger’s and Joaquin Phoenix’s iconic depictions of the role. Jared, get back to doing more of The Little Things. You’re far too talented to be making low-budget vampire movies.
It’s unusual for a movie to get practically everything wrong. And Morbius succeeds wonderfully in doing so. Only watch Morbius if you’re a die-hard Marvel fan, or if you enjoy useless action movies, or if you just want to see something so stupid it’s comical.
