Jared Leto plays Michael Morbius in Sony’s Morbius.
Sony
It’s never a good sign when a reviewer says your movie “could have been better summed up in a two-minute trailer,” but unfortunately, that’s the case with Sony’s latest Marvel movie, Morbius.
As Detroit News’ Adam Graham notes in his review of the film, the studio’s desire to expand on its Spider-Man lore is understandable. However, without Disney’s steady hand, Sony seems to be struggling to elevate its villains from the comic book side to the big screen.
Graham isn’t alone in his assessment of the Jared Leto-led film. The film, which premieres Friday, has received consistently poor reviews, recently scoring 16% out of 134 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Morbius is a shallow, sloppy paint-by-numbers attempt to remind audiences that Sony owns the rights to these Spider-Man villains and dammit they’re going to use them,” Kyle Anderson wrote in his review of the film for nerdist.
While the two Venom films were cinema success stories for Sony, they weren’t considered “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, meaning they don’t have a score of 60% or higher on the site.
In the film, Leto portrays biochemist Michael Morbius as he attempts to cure himself of a rare blood disorder. However, when an experiment goes awry, he accidentally contracts a form of vampirism. While seemingly cured of his illness and gaining strength and speed, he also craves blood.
He’s reluctant to indulge his new urges, but his friend Milo, who also had the same blood disorder and received the same “cure,” enjoys his newfound power and has little concern about what it takes to sustain his new form.
“‘Morbius’ just isn’t good,” Anderson wrote. “There are no two ways. It just feels lazy and unfinished.”
Certainly some critics saw virtues in the film. “Morbius has a sense of place – and an interest in interesting places – that sets him apart from the glossy, anonymous Atlanta pop of so many other superhero films,” Richard Lawson wrote for Vanity Fair. Manohla Dargis of The New York Times praised the “restraint, sensitivity and gestural expressiveness” of Leto’s performance.
Beyond that, however, there aren’t many voices championing “Morbius.” Here’s what critics had to say about the film ahead of its debut on Friday:
Kristy Puchko, Mashable
“‘Morbius’ is absolutely skippable,” writes Kristy Puchko in her review of the film for Mashable, who describes the film as “tiring” and fast-paced enough to make your head spin.
“Perhaps the fast pacing is to make up for the lack of panache from the cast, many of whom speak in a weary tone as if they had been dragged out of bed just before shooting – or perhaps the hope that the plot will move fast enough is going to be.” you don’t have time to notice how painfully predictable each beat is and how two-dimensional each figure is,” she wrote.
Similarly, she said the costumes were “unforgettable” and the creature designs “unimpressive,” calling the computer-generated prosthetics “neither fresh nor scary.”
According to Puchko, “Morbius”, which seemed to describe itself as a horror film with thriller undertones, has little to do with either. She also cautioned that audiences should temper their expectations of greater connections to other Marvel entities.
“Don’t be fooled by the trailers, which mention Venom, whip up Spider-Man street art in the background, and tease Michael Keaton’s return as The Vulture,” she wrote. “Eddie Brock and his symbiotic beast are only mentioned as ‘that thing that happened in San Francisco’ and an inexplicable joke in which Morbius identifies himself as ‘Venom.’ That’s it.”
Read Mashable’s full review.
Jared Leto plays Michael Morbius in Sony’s Morbius.
Sony
Emily Zemler, observer
“In 2004, ‘Morbius’ could have been a pretty good movie,” wrote Emily Zemler in her review of the film for Observer. “Today, the comic book spin-off feels… outdated and pointless.”
“If this were a Disney Marvel Studios property and not under the Sony umbrella, you would be watching ‘Morbius’ on Disney+ this weekend as part of a six-part limited series that traces the origins of the tormented, blood-sucking villain. instead of feeling compelled to pay for a cinematic experience that doesn’t require a big screen,” she added.
Zemler pointed out the lackluster special effects, one of many who said it looked like a poorly done version of the vampire prosthetics seen on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer show in its early years.
She also noted the lack of inserts. Based on the literal universe-bending events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, the Leto strip is “a pinprick,” Zemler wrote.
“Unless your ticket is free, don’t bother,” she wrote. “This film is as lifeless as the bodies that Morbius drains and throws on the floor.”
Read Observer’s full review.
Charlotte O’Sullivan, The Evening Standard
“It’s really ironic,” writes Charlotte O’Sullivan in her review of Morbius for The Evening Standard. “There were rumors that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield could be in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home,’ but the cast and crew denied it.”
“No, no, no,” they said. Fans shouldn’t expect any extra goodies. Then – there! — there was goodies galore,” O’Sullivan continued. “With this Sony production, the third feature in SSU (Sony’s Spider-Man Universe), director Daniel Espinosa hinted that there might be treats. And – there! usually get applause. There was a lot of booing on ‘Morbius’.”
For O’Sullivan, the script “got dumber by the second,” with little logic to match the leaps in science or motivation the film made. There are no characters or even threatening dangers to worry about, and the romance between Morbius and his girlfriend Martine is not burning.
“Although Morbius is endless, it also feels like large parts are missing,” wrote O’Sullivan. “My jaw dropped when I realized a particularly lackluster kerfuffle was the final fight. A mid-credits scene with Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes/Vulture (last seen in the Sony/MCU collaboration Spider-Man: Homecoming) is the final insult. It. power. none. Sense.”
Read The Evening Standard’s full review.
Clarisse Loughrey, Independent
“Somewhere in the middle of ‘Morbius,’ a movie about a Spider-Man villain that doesn’t feature Spider-Man, I was ready to drop out,” Clarisse Loughrey wrote in her review of the film for the Independent. “Get up and go. Move to a mountain cabin in Switzerland and just never bother with Sony’s Spider-Man-less Spider-Man universe ever again. It’s too much effort with too little reward.”
Like many critics, Loughrey noted that Morbius functions more as a prelude to a post-credits scene than as a fully functional film. She called the film “tasteless” and “sloppily written” and explained that “Morbius” doesn’t have a true ending, it just ends.
“All in all, ‘Morbius’ is a film that’s more frustrating than joyfully inept,” she wrote. “And if superhero movies are really going to dominate modern cinema for the next decade or so, we should be allowed at least some healthy competition between studios. I hope Sony can put on a better fight than this in the future.”
Read Independent’s full review.