Holy bat guano, MORBIUS is a train wreck.
I’m not sure how you neutralize an actor as strong & charismatic as Jared Leto, but somehow this Marvel/Dracula smashup does it.
Leto is Biochemist Michael Morbius, trying to find a cure for a lifelong debilitating disease by splicing his DNA with a vampire bat. Has NO ONE seen “The Fly”???
His plan makes little sense, but you can tell that the filmmakers don’t really care, hoping to overwhelm you with gee-whiz visual effects and cool shots versus any kind of human logic that might give weight to the outcome.
Matt Smith (Doctor Who, The Crown) is horribly miscast as Michael’s wealthy funder and childhood friend, who also shares his condition. His character Milo is underwritten and horribly overacted by Smith, going from lifelong chum to mortal adversary faster than you can say Van Helsing.
Adria Arjona (True Detective, 6 Underground) is given far too little to do, and Tyrese Gibson needs to run back to the Fast & Furious series, as he’s clearly beyond his range as an FBI agent chasing Morbius.
This is really a stupid movie.
Morbius soars through visible air currents in front of a subway car, he sends out sonic waves across New York City, he battles with Milo over the skyscraper tops endlessly, but nothing registers because all the action is so clumsily organized that it never pulls you in.
Spiderman is mentioned both by name and by location, but that only makes you wonder how a film as great as NO WAY HOME exists in the same universe as this winged dud.
I’m slotting this entry in the same category as Venom, failed experiments that should serve notice to Marvel to weigh just how many fringe characters need their own stand-alone film.
Enough of a bomb that it guarantees we’ll never need to sit through a sequel, poor Leto deserved a lot better.
MORBIUS is all bite and no brains. It gets a D.
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