The latest addition to the Marvel Phase 4 movies is Morbius. Directed by Daniel Espinosa, this movie is a Marvel and Sony production. It released in theatres on the 1st of April 2022.
Morbius Movie Cast
- Jared Leto as Morbius
- Matt Smith as Loxias Crown a.k.a Milo
- Adria Arjona as Martine
- Tyrese Gibson as Detective Stroud
- Al Madrigal as Detective Rodriguez
Morbius Movie Plot
Dr Morbius, who is critically ill with a rare blood ailment and is motivated to spare others from the same destiny, takes a risky gamble that may not be helpful to the world at all.
Morbius Movie Review
Marvel Phase 4 has to be the most active phase. We have so many stories and content to consume and I am not complaining. There is never too much of Marvel, right? While there are periods of stagnancy and complete desperation on the part of the audience, Marvel has been giving this time around. They have recently released the latest movie in the phase and this time it is the origin story of Morbius.
Starring Jared Leto, this movie has been in the works and news for a long time now. Did the stint in news increase expectations? No. I am pretty sure, no one went inside the theatre with any sort of expectations. We really wanted to hold onto hope but when has that worked out well.
The movie starts off with an amazing aesthetic. Throughout the 1 hour 40 minutes run, I was most impressed by the cinematography. I would add the colours of the movie but after some time that too felt bleak. Not by intention. In particular, the shots of the past of Morbius and Milo were so beautiful. The pastel yellow that had a grey shadow really conveyed the point of nostalgia but pain really well. On the other hand, the first scene with the bats, looked more confusing than threatening which is unfortunate considering that the writer scares easy.
Mentioning the past brings me to the point that it never really showed how Morbius’s Mentor (Jared Harris) became close to the two friends. We knew that he was there in the facility they were admitted to but how he became close enough to dedicate his life to them is unclear. The bond between Milo and Morbius was built beautifully. Joseph Esson (Young Milo) and Charlie Shotwell (Young Michael) really sold the sick best friend relationship. The perfectly built origamis in contrast to their not perfectly structured DNA were also so well used.
What is not a well-used concept now is bats. Leave those creatures alone. Keep them as far as you can from humankind. Nothing good has ever come out of it except for Christian Bale, Ben Affleck and Robert Pattison playing Batman. That also didn’t really have anything to do with bats. While the movie did try making some references to Dracula to justify the relationship between bats and humans but for some average Dracula references, Sony should not be making an entire movie. The movie had the audacity to kill a mouse. Whether Disney knew that the movie would be subpar or not, they definitely knew they wouldn’t be funding such a project.
Nothing about this movie made me want to sit through it but the few glimpses of Adria as Martine did make it bearable. It may have been because she didn’t really have much screen time or a character as such but she was truly a relief. One would think Matt Smith would have been a breath of relief but surprisingly a movie like Morbius can break him too.
Jared Leto has mastered the art of looking creepy. The way he walked before the bat stuff was so perfect. His whispering to a child, “go into a nice long nap” also sealed the deal. He didn’t need the animation for Morbius’s monster because the creepiness really made its way through.
Calling it animation is being kind. Morbius as a bat-human is a zombie with vampire canines using the “Sexy Squidward” filter. When the creature was first featured, the filter was the first thing to come to my mind and that unfortunately speaks a lot for the special effects.
The scariest part of the movie was when the scene had motion sensor lights and a nurse was racing ahead. The constant flicking of the lights sold the intensity for life more than the creature tearing open the body. A reminder, the writer scares super easy so the movie really did not get an audience impact. Having watched the movie with an eight-year-old, I can say that, even she was least affected by the movie. The day a Marvel movie is “okay” for a wide-eyed child, is the day one can best believe that Marvel has fallen.
The fan in me wants to give Marvel some credit, so I will say that the reveal for Matt Smith was very sleek. Morbius and Milo have the perfect sibling energy for their relationship. Milo is the younger sibling with no sense of understanding of consequences and Morbius is a tired older sibling who has given up on life.
There were many unnecessary elements in the film for example the cops trying to do the bad cop and comic relief cop humour. Also, being a huge Netflix geek, I was pointing at various fantasy elements throughout. The movie is a culmination of Netflix fantasy adaptations like Shadowhunters and, Shadow and Bone. Sony should know better than throwing Archie Renaux in a scene and giving him no dialogues.
Coming to the ending. There were way too many confusing elements. Too many questions and almost all were questions beginning with How. I can’t elaborate more on that without giving out spoilers but movies ending with too many How questions aren’t really good signs. The ending of the movie was below average and in full honesty, I was kind of disappointed by the end credit scenes too. It was great to see an old character reprise their role, but was it a worthy scene? No.
The Movie Culture Synopsis
This is one rare exception of a Marvel movie that you can go on without watching. There is literally nothing to the story. Nothing you cannot predict. The saddest part is that it is not a horrible film, it is so bland that it has nothing to judge.
