MORBIUS (2022)

MORBIUS (2022)

Tagline: A new Marvel legend arrives.

(Action, Adventure, Its Vampires Isn’t It?) [PG-13]

There is no cure. There's something missing from our DNA. Like a piece of a puzzle. And until they find it, the only way to stay alive is an oil change three times a day.

In this one, Dr. Michael Morbius is looking for a cure for a rare blood disorder. He develops a serum that turns him into a vampire with some pretty crazy powers. He is able to live on artificial blood he also developed, but time is running out. Like all vampires, he needs to feed on some sort of blood, so needless to say, the fake blood not working is a problem. An even bigger problem is that his childhood friend who he considers like a brother also took the serum and isn’t as ethical as Morbius. 

This is one of those movies that would be sued for false advertising (as of December 2022) due to a lot of the scenes in the trailer, never actually appearing in the movie. I am never a fan of the government getting involved in further regulation of things. In fact, the government should stay out of the way for the most part, but previews that show stuff that won’t end up in the actual movie has been a pet peeve of mine since TWISTER came out. One interesting thing is that this movie suggests it happens in the same universe as the UNDERWORLD series. At one point in the film, Dr. Michael Morbius goes to a hospital, and over the intercom, we can hear the name, Michael Corvin. Michael Corvin was the main point of interest in both UNDERWORLD and UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION. His name does come up in UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING, but he isn’t a major character in that film. 

Looking at the big positives this film has going for it are the special effects. While the explanations are lacking, the visuals are actually very strong. The pacing is also pretty solid as are the score and cinematography. 

Another thing that works is the acting. I really don’t like Jared Leto (SUICIDE SQUAD) as a person or an actor. His antics in several films have pissed off a lot of his co-stars and this one is no exception. He used his crutches when he wasn’t on set and delayed the production so badly that they had to start pushing him around in a wheelchair to speed things up. However, he is very good in this role, so I want to give credit where credit is due. Matt Smith plays Milo and is also good in this role. I think I always thought of Matt Smith as being a funny actor after DOCTOR WHO, but after seeing him take a more serious role in TERMINATOR: GENISYS, I started seeing him as a bit more of a capable villain type. Smith purposely played this role by channeling Kiefer Sutherland's character David, from THE LOST BOYS. This movie also does a good job of restoring the non-glitter or fluff-style vampires that came as a result of the TWILIGHT series. Adria Arjona takes on the role of Dr. Michael Morbius’s love interest and colleague Martine Bancroft. I first saw her in the epic TV series EMERALD CITY which I wish to this day had never been canceled because it was incredible. She was also incredible in it and has gone on to do films like PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING and FATHER OF THE BRIDE (2022).

The abundance of needles and weird veiny-looking skin was rough to watch. I typically don’t like medical-themed movies for that reason, but fortunately after the first half of the film all that is toned way down. This does feel like an IRON MAN-type introduction film rather than trying to do too much too soon. This movie was NOT well received in either one of its two theatrical releases and it was also hard-core panned by critics so it’s hard to tell if we will see a return of Morbius or not. It does seem like Leto is committed to a series of these movies. 

I thought this was decent, but not great, it had a lot of PRIEST vibes, but it definitely was not as bad as some of the egghead critics made it out to be. This one gets a 4 out of 7. 

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