Morbius Movie Review
Morbius is Sony Pictures' sad attempt at creating their own cinematic universe . Do I want a cinematic universe with Spider-Man at the center? Heck yes. Would I have chosen a villain to launch the universe? Maybe. Did I get anything that I wanted? Nope. Starring Jared Leto, we follow Dr. Michael Morbius attempting to save himself from a rare blood disease before it kills him. Instead of finding a cure, he accidentally turns himself into a vampire. I’m familiar with Morbius from the comics and even though he’s not the villain I would have built my franchise around, I thought this would be a scary, yet fun time at the movies. Unfortunately, that’s not what I got.
For starters, Morbius is supposed to be a Spider-Man villain who eventually joins a team of Spider-Man villains called the Sinister 6. Instead, they make Morbius sympathetic, dare I say it, a hero. Making Morbius a hero doesn’t work within the confines of this universe because the Sinister 6 want to kill Spider-Man. If Morbius is a hero, there is unclear motivation for him to work with villains in order to kill another hero. It has also been established that this movie takes place in the same universe as Venom, a universe where Spider-Man doesn’t exist. The movie has given nothing to hint that Spider-Man is somewhere in this universe, once again showing Morbius’ lack of motivation to go after him.
The movie has a two hour run time and yet the plot felt rushed. None of the characters were properly developed. Morbius has a love interest who, besides working with for a few years, he has no reason to be in love with. The two have very little chemistry on screen, so whenever they get “romantic”, it feels forced. Morbius has a best friend who turns into the main villain, Milo. At no point prior does the movie hint that there is darkness in Milo, but as soon as he takes the same serum as Morbius, suddenly he is a bloodthirsty killer. It felt like he was thrown in as the villain just for the sake of having a big fight with Morbius in the finale.
The only saving grace was the performance of Jared Leto. He did the best he could with the script he was given. Leto plays the character as if he is exhausted, he speaks slowly, his eyes are lifeless and he looks like he’s in pain every time he moves. This works well because Morbius is dying from a rare blood disease that is draining him, even when he's a vampire. I only cared about Morbius in this movie because of Leto’s performance. Despite Leto’s best effort, Morbius is a movie that deserves a steak through the heart rather than a viewing.
