Nerdly » ‘Morbius’ VOD Review

20th May2022

‘Morbius’ VOD Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona, Jared Harris, Tyrese Gibson, Al Madrigal, Zaris-Angel Hator, Charlie Shotwell, Joseph Esson, Joanna Burnett | Written by Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless | Directed by Daniel Espinosa

OK, I’ll be honest. I read the reviews, I saw the fall out of the films theatrical run. But…but… Morbius is one of my all-time favourite Marvel characters alongside Moon Knight, Taskmaster and Man-Thing. So I just HAD to see Sony’s Morbius movie for myself.

So what’s the verdict?

Well for a start, Morbius feels like half a movie. Yes, half a movie. The ending is so abrupt that it felt like we were missing an epilogue, a conclusion. Hell, even a real set-up for a sequel beyond a brief flash of SOMETHING (which I shall not spoil) and a couple of post-credits sequences that try their damnedest to tie Morbius into the Marvel cinematic universe. Well, at least Sony’s Spider-Man portion of it. But as a standalone film, Morbius feels rushed, as if it was shot without a complete script. It hurts what is already a film that is unlike any of the previous Sony/Marvel collaborations.

For yes, whilst Morbius may have been made in the current superhero-friendly climate, where Marvel characters rule the box office, it feels like it was made in another era. An era when comic book movies weren’t the box office guarantee as they [mostly] are now. The 90s. Where films like Captain America, The Shadow, The Phantom, Dick Tracy and Steel floundered; Blade was a surprise hit; and we got TV movies featuring Nick Fury, Generation X and the Justice League. But you know what? When I was a teenager I absolutely LOVED those movies! In fact, whilst they’re not of the calibre of the Marvel movies we get now, I still have a nostalgic love for those movies and still rewatch a few of them today (Guess what? I still absolutely LOVE Albert Pyun’s Captain America and seeing David Hasselhoff as Nick Fury). Which is probably why I’m not going to sh*t on Morbius like everyone else has.

I’m also not going to sing its praises from the rafters because besides feeling like half a movie, Morbius also has issues with most, if not all, of its fight scenes – which are a garbled mess of CGI if I’m honest. So much so that you can’t tell what’s going on for most of what should be exciting ‘superhero’ fights. It really is a case of going too far in terms of visual effects! But at the same time it’s a Morbius movie and I never in my wildest dreams thought we’d get a Morbius movie. Ever.

Speaking of Morbius, Jared Leto is pretty good as the titular character and he truly manages to capture the pathos in the character despite the under-written script. Matt Smith chews the scenery as Morbius’s lifelong friend Milo, aka Lucien; whilst Jared Harris is somewhat wasted as Dr. Nicholas, the man that treated Morbius and Milo when they were children and is so close to both of them they are more like family than doctors and patients. Laso wasted are Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal as the two cops investigating Morbius and a spate of vampire-like deaths across Manhattan. How the filmmakers wasted the latter’s brilliant comic timing for most of the film (he does get some laughs to be fair) is beyond me.

But that’s the thing about the entire movie. It’s good. I enjoyed it. But the entire thing feels a bit like a wasted opportunity. There are great stories to tell about Morbius but this is not one of them. I get that Sony wanted to do an origin story with the character but this origin tale feels more like the old-school TV pilots, where it’s all set up and no “punch line”; with the possible storyline for a sequel teased at the end which – honestly – I’ve no interest in seeing. OK, so it’s obvious we’ll get the Sinister Six EVENTUALLY (when?!) but there’s a major problem. Sony’s Marvel universe is going to suffer because there’s no Spider-Man. He ties into the MCU, not Sony’s “Amazing” universe (or whatever they’re calling it). He REALLY needs to become a part of these films, even if it’s as an antagonist for this particular set of characters rather than the protagonist.

Ultimately this is in NO WAY as bad as a lot of critics have made out. Yes, it has issues (mainly how the ending feels so abrupt, even over the confusing mess of CGI) but Jared Leto makes for a decent Michael Morbius… we just need to see him go all-out as Morbius now!