Morbius – Movie Reviews by Ry!

Morbius – Fang-less for Blood: A Mess of a Tale

The ideas within can always seem, interesting.  From imaginative to conceptual, any endeavor becomes a risky proposition.  With film, it is risk to create any story, but it is the general outcome that will show if it was worth the price.  In this review, I look at the latest film in the Sony’s Spidey-verse.  With another adaptation from the rogue gallery, it is an attempt that falls flat on so many levels.  Morbius is a wishful glance that doesn’t have the fangs to puncture enjoyment.

The story follows biochemist, Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), who is attempting to find a cure to a rare blood disease he and others have.  Through his research, he gets a new lease on life that becomes an unwanted curse.  At a crossroads, he will have to decide what is his true purpose.  To begin this review, it starts with the eyes of its concept.  On the surface, the creative team is attempting to characterize another Spiderman villain.  This is a repeated endeavor that has (so far) been successful for Sony.  With this latest attempt, it showcases a sign of strong ideas with hollow endings.  You have a character that is known as the ‘living vampire’ in the comics.  Translation this to the big screen, the creative team combines pseudo-science and the concept of a ‘living vampire’ on the foundation of the anti-hero motif.  Through this mix, you have the start of an interesting tale.  After a quick setup of the main character’s backstory, it leads to a generalization of his research and predictable ‘change’ into this anti-hero.  When he confronts the consequences, he is a man faced with a unique dilemma.  His risk provides a platform of ingenious motive but also showcases this timely situation of survival with drinking blood.  This lays the framework for a mysterious question of what it means to be good and bad.  As the journey continues, he struggles to fight the urge (for blood).  This brings another thread of conscious objection, leveling out the humanity of the character.  It is a potential of storytelling that seems prime for something big, but it is all an illusion to the grandeur of the idea of being a comic book film.

Morbius’ situation turns dire when he finds out his close friend, Milo (Matt Smith) steals the injection for himself.  Through convenient plot devices, it leads to unwanted consequences of saturated conflict.  As the potential depth begins to wane, the latter half of the film turns into a sideshow of melodramatic sequences and comic book cliches.  As you move through a sleuth of lame CGI, action sequences and plot armor situations, the story of Morbius gets lost in the rehashing of a generic comic book film.  Everything becomes a rush job for the hero vs villain trope, creating the odd collapse of a non-existent third act.  Morbius is a tale of lost potential.  With many great ideas, it becomes another lame comic book film from the past.  If you are a fan of the character or comic book films, I would say it might be worth it to see at the theaters.  I would recommend this for a rental at home.      

Full Score – 2 out of 5 (Rental)