REVIEW: New Film Morbius is a Thrill Ride, Don’t Believe the Lack of Hype
Morbius starring Oscar winner Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Al Madrigal, and Tyrese Gibson, is the latest Marvel/Sony release based on the Marvel Comics antihero Dr. Michael Morbius. Morbius is a Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who finds out that he is dying from a rare blood disease that dissolves his blood cells, and he’s in a race to find a cure.
Jared Leto, the master of transformation, stars as Michael Morbius, determined to save himself and others with the same illness, including his childhood friend (Young Milo/Joseph Esson), whom he meets while bullied in a children’s hospital run by Dr. Emil Nicholas (Jared Harris). Milo is living off the spoils of his generational wealth in New York, but he’s a sickly adult man (Matt Smith) who financially assists Morbius with his research funding, hoping one day for a cure.
Dr. Morbius tries a dangerous experimental procedure that combines his human DNA with a vampire bat, the only mammal that survives on blood and has evolved to develop anticoagulants that Morbius feels will cure him. Not only does the procedure heal him, but it gives him superhuman strength that, unfortunately, he can’t control. Furthermore, he fears for the public’s safety and himself as he now has a life-threatening dependency on human blood, resulting in bodies showing up dead and drained.
After the experimental procedure, Morbius transforms into a bat-like monster with a sunken face, deadly fangs, hypersensitive hearing, and the ability to fly through the air and break down walls. To make matters worse, Milo, who has suffered his entire life with the same childhood illness, sees that Morbius has been cured and does not heed the advice that Morbius is living a violent bloodthirsty nightmare. Instead, Milo steals the solution and goes on an incredible escapade of violence and revenge for how terrible he was treated as a child by the world, and Moribus is tasked with stopping him. Morbius must also simultaneously fight for his own survival as he’s torn between ending his own life and protecting the world from his violent episodes.
Morbius overall was entertaining and intriguing. While it may not follow the typical Marvel formula, it was a good story with great visuals and effects (Matthew E. Butler) which focused on airwaves and fluid-like visuals to show Morbius’s special bat-like powers. Leto was great in this film and he literally was transforming in and out of his human body into this bat-like creature and back again; I appreciated all of the traits that Jared mastered to make this character realistic and multidimensional. There wasn’t anything hokey or off-putting when it came to the CGI. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of Leto transforming into this bat-like monster each time, and his scenes as the crippled Dr. Morbius were believable. I also enjoyed the chemistry between Leto and Adria Arjona (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Emerald City).
However, I agree with other critics of the film who felt something was missing during the scenes where Milo is vying for Morbius to accept and enjoy the new powers and the spoils of their new life post-procedure. Milo was known in the comics to possibly have an attraction to Morbius, which would have made sense to include in the film.
The Crown costars Matt Smith and Jared Harris (Dr. Emil Nicholas) were a delight to watch on camera during the scene where Nicholas confronts Milo after he discovers that he has been taking part in some violent dubious activities. Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal starred as FBI Agents Simon Stroud and Alberto Ramirez. The supporting cast had a limited amount of screentime, but I enjoyed that the writers focused more on action scenes and backstory into Morbius’ struggles.
Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash, Life, Safe House) serves as director for Morbius, with a screen story and screenplay by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless. The film was produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Lucas Foster.
Morbius is in theaters now.
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