Movie Review: Morbius
With the Marvel Cinematic Universe expanding to greater heights with the likes of the multiverse and singular character-focused TV shows, it was inevitable that Sony would continue to try and cash in on the routine (Spider-Man: No Way Home being a prime example as to why). With their continuing attempts at superhero movies comes the newest installment to their side of the Marvel universe: Morbius. This movie was directed by Daniel Espinosa and produced by Columbia Pictures.
The story follows Dr. Michael Morbius, who is trying to find a cure for a rare blood disease he has had his entire life. To test this cure, he injects himself with a mixture of human and vampire bat DNA. This causes an unforeseen reaction in his body and grants him all sorts of superhuman abilities. It also temporarily cures his disease, but at the cost of turning him into a monster.
While Sony’s continuation of making superhero movies was inevitable, what was also inevitable was the controversy surrounding Morbius upon release. Their superhero movies have not really been bad per se, but they have not had the best track record in being as good as their cousins over at Disney. Installments such as Venom and Venom: Let There be Carnage were not terrible movies, but they left a bad taste in a good amount of fans' mouths while still being enjoyable. The same applies to Morbius. As with its predecessors over recent years, it falls into that decent range. It is not great, but also not terrible, in my opinion at least (Put the pitchforks and torches away. It is not worth it).
I will admit, the movie does have its flaws, though. At a run time of 1 hour and 45 minutes, there are times in the movie when it feels like it was rushed, when before release, the producers had to do three different sets of reshoots. Not only that, but the ending was extremely abrupt, and a good number of the characters failed to make any impact whatsoever. Besides Morbius and his friend since childhood (played by Matt Smith of Doctor Who fame), the other characters seem to fall flat in being relevant in any way possible. To get this part out of the way, since we are on the topic of negatives, the end credits scenes also make no sense, and were even partially spoiled by the trailers of the movie (most likely due to reshoots. But still).
Luckily, these glaring flaws are accompanied by some redeeming qualities, even if they are few. For example, the special effects of the movie were interesting to look at. Every time Morbius is fighting or using his abilities, it has an effect of the world around him shifting and almost bending to his will. Combine that with every time he moves with his powers, trails of shadow-like material flow behind him, which change colors depending on what clothes he is wearing. With how underwhelming most of the characters are, there is at least some good acting among them. Matt Smith brings a lot of fun to his character, and Jared Leto is surprisingly decent in this role (Again, pitchforks and torches are not needed. It’s okay). Even if you don’t enjoy his acting, you must at least admit that he pulls off the look for the character perfectly. The long black hair and goatee are classic Morbius and all he needs is his red and black suit and it will be like he never left the comic book page. Lastly, believe it or not, the end credits scenes also fall into the category of good things. Nothing will change the fact that they make absolutely no sense, but given the circumstances and implications behind them, we could be in for a treat from the Sony side of Marvel. Whether that be a sweet or sour treat, only time will tell.
Morbius is a strange case when it comes to the quality of it. On one hand, we will never know how it was originally supposed to play out before the reshoots. On the other hand, it also serves as an interesting step for the development of the Sony Marvel Universe. It’s not great. It’s not terrible. It’s just decent, and that's good enough for me (If I see you pull out another pitchfork, I swear).
But hey, at least the memes were funny.
