Morbius Review: Marvel Is Tinged With Horror Thanks To Jared Leto Manages To Convince And Entertain At Sufficient Levels
Stars: Jared Leto, Michael Keaton, Adria Arjona
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Filmyhype.com Ratings: 3/5 (three star) [yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Dr. Michael Morbius has developed an experimental cure to cure his rare blood disease and stop suffering, as he has done all his life. He had sworn to heal his ailment, as well as his best friend Loxias, but when he finally finds the key to his serum – a compound derived from the blood of vampire bats – he realizes he has created more than one monster. A creature that feeds on human DNA, unable to control its instincts and which tells us a tragic parable, that of an individual torn between ethics and instinct. An anti-hero who joins Venom in Sony Pictures’ Spider-Verseand that finally arrives in cinemas after a troubled gestation due to the continuous pandemic postponements.
Finally here we are: we can talk about Morbius, a niche figure in Marvel literature, almost always opposed to that of Spider-Man, but who in this standalone with Jared Leto protagonist finds his own path, and even opens the doors to future and intriguing crossovers. In light of the first reviews that had crushed Morbius we find ourselves able to have our say after having previewed it, and we must admit that things went better than we hoped for.
Morbius Review: The Story
The narrative formula with which the screenwriters Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama, directed by Daniel Espinosa, have created the new Sony cinecomic is certainly not the most original: an origin story in which a weak and tormented protagonist turns into a creature supernatural, transforming from an ambitious but righteous scientist into a creature of the night, ravenous and hungry for human blood. From the very beginning, that is, from the very first minutes of the film, Morbius reminds us of the deeply marked ethical contrast that the character of Jared Leto experiences, who tries to fight at all costs with the primordial instinct that drives him to claim victims.
Plus, deep pain lurks in Michael’s past: a disease that made him disabled from birth, and that led him to befriend Loxias (Matt Smith) in the hospital where they both lived their childhood. Once he grew up, after having devoted his entire existence to medicine, the scientific achievements on the creation of an artificial blood made Doctor Morbius an esteemed luminary all over the world, until the contradictory experiment that the protagonist carries out on himself to live the disease turns him into a wild beast, and consequently into a wanted one. The narrative progression of the film, after a prologue that alternates past and present, continues on very canonical tracks, and scholastic is also the succession of events, as well as some predictable twists linked to the identity and nature of the villain.
There are no particular flashes of writing in Morbius , but not even great blunders, if not a too staid rhythm in the central body of the feature film. The film lasts a little less than two hours, and perhaps the overall minutes could have lasted even less to improve the cadence of the story. Nonetheless, we were satisfied with the characterization of the villain and some supporting actors, although we are aware that it will certainly not be for the quality of the plot that the public could remember Morbius for a long time.
Morbius Review and Analysis
What left us baffled, both positively and negatively, is the general visual rendering of the film. The staging oscillates between interesting elements and rather questionable directing choices. First of all, it is to be commended, against all odds, a setting more horror than ever, far more convincing than the dull (and too sweetened) atmosphere of Venom by the way, is there waiting for you in the Multiverse. The film links at least two or three sequences of good horror impact, without skimping on either jumpscare or an insistent body horror, which in the strong expressiveness of its grim protagonist puts some interesting shots on the plate.
Almost completely absent, however, a component of strong comedy that instead in Venom became supporting, so much so that the few more relaxed moments almost clash with the extremely dark tones of the production. On the other hand, while packaging an extreme and not at all sweetened dose of violence, the action scenes would certainly have deserved more breath, but above all a greater variety in style. Much of the visual rendering of the fighting finds its main engine in slow motion, and we have not always appreciated the effectiveness of the special effects.
Divided between some excess of evident computer graphics and really too chaotic clashes, the direction is probably the weak link in the stage frame of Morbius. Especially in the final confrontation between the hero and the protagonist, in fact, the action becomes too confusing, to the point of not making a resolutive clash that is too hasty and botched at all legible. And which leads, in a direct and perhaps all too sudden way, to a rather unsettling post-credit epilogue, but which in any case has the merit of remixing and give shape to the plans of this swinging Sony-branded Ragnoverso.
The questions about the future of the project, however, are not few, also and above all regarding the consistency of certain choices, but we will reserve the right to analyze them in more detail in the immediate future. In the meantime, it is enough to know that, with all the trappings of the case, Morbius with Jared Leto intrigued us more than Venom, however leaving us aware that a lot of work will still be needed because the operation born with Tom Hardy, realized with Jared Leto and about to get rich. with Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven can be said to be completely convincing.
Morbius Review: The Last Words
Morbius manages to convince and entertain at sufficient levels but overall like other Marvel films this is not promising. The project with Jared Leto in fact seemed to us much more solid than his symbiote cousin, although some evident problems related to the staging and some creative choices remain concrete. However, we must admit that the vaguely horror setting and the more mature tones of the production can be worth the price of the ticket, undermining the excessive comedy soul that had characterized Venom from this point of view. From the point of view of writing, Daniel Espinosa’s film does not shine particularly, but neither does it disappoint, even if we would have liked a less staid rhythm in the central body of the film. And now that, thanks to a couple of interesting post-credit scenes, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe takes a more concrete shape.
