Fang-tastic or not?: A “Morbius” Review

Poster via Sony Studios

“Morbius” came out on April Fools Day after two years of delays on April Fools Day. That should be a sign right there. The film is part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe that also includes the two “Venom” films and focuses on doctor Michael Morbius, as he tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease but ends up turning himself into a vampire.

The film is directed by Daniel Espinosa and stars Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona and Tyrese Gibson. Now, I don’t normally like to rip a movie apart because there's so much work that goes into each and every one of them, but I’d be lying if I said this was a good movie. It feels like a comic book film that would’ve come out in the early 2000’s when studios were still trying to figure out how to deal with these characters and create a compelling story.

There’s not anything about it that I hated — it’s just such a dull and bland movie that doesn’t have a compelling plot, characters or a satisfying conclusion. The screenplay includes a lot of poorly-written dialogue that didn’t give the actors much material to work with in terms of their characters. 

Leto can sometimes be the thing that sticks out the most about a film, but in this movie he’s more reserved and doesn’t delve into his weird method acting that can become very distracting. Smith tries to bring some energy into his character of Milo, but it just feels out of place in this movie, and his villain has very dumb motivations that feel rushed and don’t really make sense. One of the biggest sins of this movie is the waste of Jared Harris. He’s one of the finest actors working and he disappears for a large chunk of the movie without much explanation. Gibson and Al Madrigal play the detectives that follow the characters around looking for clues and they’re very generic and have zero depth. 

The story doesn’t have a natural flow, and it feels like there are chunks missing out of it. The movie is only an hour and 44 minutes long, and while I’m very grateful that I didn’t have to sit through any more of this movie, it certainly could’ve had another 20-25 minutes that connected the dots between scenes that in the final product, didn’t feel like they went together naturally.

The action sequences weren’t memorable at all and filmed with a lot of slo-mo, which when used right can be effective, but in this movie just meant that I had to watch more of it. The visual effects weren’t all horrible, but I would’ve loved to see more prosthetic work for the characters transitioning between human and vampire.

As far as positives go… there aren’t many. The way the opening and closing title sequences were visualized, with pink and purple colors and triangle patterns outlining the names of the cast and crew, looked really cool and gave me hope for the movie until the first scene started. There is one scene in the movie that was executed fairly well, and it plays into what I wanted this movie to be: a comic book movie mashed with elements from the horror genre. The scene takes place in a hospital and involves a nurse running down a long hallway as the lights flicker and show a shadowy figure moving along the ceiling and walls. It was a glimpse into what this film could’ve been, and it’s probably the only thing I’ll remember about this movie. 

Overall, “Morbius” had the potential to introduce a new character with a blend of superhero and horror elements, but failed to deliver on almost every level. This movie wasn’t aggressively bad, but it somehow was very boring while also feeling very rushed. If you’re a fan of comic book movies and want to be caught up with them all, then see it, but if you enjoy good movies, then go see “The Batman” again. This film gets a D grade from me and is something I’m not going to remember in one week. 

Spoilers: There are two mid-credits scenes in this film that tie into the MCU Spider-Man films, so if you haven’t seen those movies, check them out before watching “Morbius,” even though the director of this film spoiled the post-credits scene on Twitter before the release of the movie, so that’s good. The two scenes involve Adrian Toomes a.k.a. Vulture, the villain from “Spider-Man: Homecoming” as he’s transported to the Sony Universe through the events that took place at the end of “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” The first scene shows him appearing in a prison cell and subsequently being released because they have no record of him in this universe. The second scene shows Morbius meeting with Toomes in a field somewhere as he’s somehow acquired a new Vulture suit and wants to form the Sinister Six.

First of all, this doesn’t make any sense. At the end of “No Way Home,” all of the people that knew Peter Parker were transported back to the universes they came from and everything was set right. But Toomes was already in his own universe so there would be no reason for him to go through into another universe. Hopefully they can explain this in the future, or if they don’t that’s fine, because I don’t ever really care to see Morbius in any future movies. The idea of the Sinister Six is really exciting, but this is Sony’s second attempt to bring this group together, and we saw how that worked out the first time. I’m looking at you, “The Amazing Spider-Man 2.” These scenes felt like they were tacked on very late in the process and not given much thought, but it was probably the most interesting thing in the movie so there’s that.