Morbius (2022) Film Review

Sony Pictures

Starring Jared Leto (Doctor Michael Morbius), Matt Smith (Milo), Adria Arjona (Martine Bancroft), Jared Harris (Doctor Emil Nicholas), Al Madrigal (Al Rodriguez), and Tyrese Gibson (Simon Stroud) with two mid-credits appearances by Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes / The Vulture from the MCU’s 616-Universe

MORBIUS

Directed by Daniel Espinosa

Produced by Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, and Amy Pascal

Written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless

Music by Jon Ekstrand

Distributed by Sony Pictures

Run Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes

World Premier: March 10, 2022, in Mexico City

Opening Weekend Box Office: $39 million (North America)

Worldwide Box Office: $163 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 15%

Sony Pictures

Fun Morbius Facts

Plans for Morbius the Living Vampire on the Silver Screen actually date all the way back to 1998’s Blade, distributed by New Line Cinema. Early drafts had Doctor Michael Morbius appearing in Blade, and actor Stephen Norrington was cast as Morbius and even filmed a scene that ended up on the cutting room floor. Despite two Blade sequels in 2002 and 2004, Morbius never did make an official appearance in the franchise.

In the Spring of 2017, Sony Pictures announced that they were developing a Shared Cinematic Universe that would be known as Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Venom starring Tom Hardy was the first film announced to be officially taking place in this new Cinematic Universe. Sony made their first Spider-Man trilogy from 2002-2007, then rebooted the franchise from 2012-2014, before striking a revolutionary deal with Marvel Studios in 2015 to bring Spider-Man into The Walt Disney Company’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. Along the way, the rights to the Morbius character (who was introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man series as a supporting Spider-Man character in 1971) transitioned over to Sony. Morbius was soon announced as one of several projects in active development at Sony Pictures, with actor Jared Leto attached to star in 2018. As for their new Universe, Morbius was originally slated to be the second film released after Venom in the Fall of 2018.

At the end of 2018, Sony Pictures announced a tentative release date for Morbius of July 10, 2020. That date was soon changed to July 31, 2020. Morbius commenced filming in February of 2019. Amy Pascal announced that the production had wrapped in June of 2019.

On August 21, 2019, Sony Pictures pulled Spider-Man out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe after discussions between Sony Pictures and Disney / Marvel Studios to extend the deal they made to share the character in 2015 completely broke down. Reports stated that Disney / Marvel Studios felt entitled to more of the Box Office take on the Spider-Man films they produce, with further reports stating that Disney was looking for a 50 / 50 split that would see the companies share the financing of the films as well as the Box Office take. This feeling was no doubt brought on by the fact that 2019’s Spider-Man: Far From Home emerged as the highest-grossing film in the history of Sony Pictures at that time, bringing in over $1 billion. Sony balked at these proposals and with the talks at a standstill, the story was leaked that Spider-Man and presumably his entire supporting cast, would no longer be part of the MCU. This news sent shockwaves throughout the comic book movie fandom and threatened to dramatically change the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Sony’s Spider-Man Universe in ways that no one wanted.

On September 27, 2019: Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures announced that they had agreed upon a new deal that would at least temporarily keep Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The new deal would see Marvel Studios produce the film that eventually became Spider-Man: No Way Home. Upon the announcement of this new deal, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige suggested that in the future, Spider-Man would boast the unique trait of being able to appear in two different Cinematic Universes, bringing many to speculate that this would mean that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker from the MCU would soon be joining Sony’s Spider-Man Universe and sharing the screen with the likes of Venom and Morbius.

Sony Pictures

On Monday, January 13, 2020, Sony Pictures released the first trailer for Morbius, generating a ton of buzz due to select things that made it seem as though the film took place within the MCU 616-Universe. For one, the trailer showed Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius walking past a poster of Spider-Man on which the word “murderer” had been painted. Even though the image appeared to be of Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man from Sony’s first Spider-Man film in 2002, this was seen as relevant due to 2019’s Spider-Man: No Way Home ending with Tom Holland’s Peter Parker’s identity as Spider-Man getting publicly outed by the villainous Mysterio and consequently being branded as Mysterio’s murderer by political powerhouse J. Jonah Jameson (portrayed by JK Simmons, who previously portrayed Jameson in Raimi’s trilogy). Even more telling however, was the appearance of Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes / The Vulture in the trailer. Keaton had portrayed Toomes within the MCU 616-Universe in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, which (seemingly) even further tied Morbius to the MCU 616-Universe.

In February of 2020, select re-shoots for Morbius took place.

In the Spring of 2020, the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic forced global lockdowns and wreaked havoc on everyday life across the world. Theaters completely closed and productions shutdown across the planet. As Hollywood as a whole faced unprecedented challenges and financial struggles, Sony Pictures announced that Morbius would move to a March 19, 2021, release date. As the Pandemic lingered, Sony would again move Morbius‘ release date to October 8, 2021, before shifting to January 21, 2022, and then finally landing on April 1, 2022. Morbius was released nearly two-years after it was initially intended to, ultimately coming out after the sequel to Venom as the third film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

In February of 2021, additional re-shoots for Morbius took place.

On April 21, 2021, the Walt Disney Company and Sony Pictures reached a groundbreaking deal to bring all of Sony’s Spider-Man films to the Disney+ streaming service where they will exist alongside other Marvel Cinematic Universe films for viewing by Disney+ subscribers.

Sony Pictures / Marvel Studios

On October 1, 2021, Sony Pictures released Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the sequel to 2018’s Venom. During the film’s credits, Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock / Venom was mysteriously teleported from Sony’s Spider-Man Universe into the Marvel Cinematic (616) Universe. This opened the door for Venom to appear in Spider-Man: No Way Home and instantly made the two Venom films that comprised Sony’s Spider-Man Universe MCU canon. Morbius likewise became MCU canon, since it takes place in the same Cinematic Universe as the two Venom films. Venom: Let There Be Carnage was the first Sony’s Spider-Man Universe film to be released since the outbreak of the Pandemic.

On December 17, 2021, Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures released Spider-Man: No Way Home. The film brought several cast members and characters from past Sony Spider-Man films into the MCU, including Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn / Green Goblin, Alfred Molina’s Otto Octavius / Doctor Octopus, Jamie Fox’s Max Dillon / Electro, Tobey Maguire’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man, and Andrew Garfield’s Peter Parker / Spider-Man. In-story, this was accomplished through a botched magical spell cast by Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Stephen Strange intended to make everyone in the MCU 616-Universe forget that Tom Holland’s Peter Parker was Spider-Man. Though Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock did not appear in the main portion of the film, he did appear during the credits and was shown to be inhabiting the MCU 616-Universe. Hardy’s scene ends however with him being teleported back to Sony’s Spider-Man Universe following another spell cast by Strange. All of the other Sony Spider-Man film characters were also teleported out of the MCU due to Strange’s second spell. All of this left fans wondering how Morbius would be affected, and that was revealed upon the film’s release in its credits as Michael Keaton’s Adrian Toomes / The Vulture (who appeared in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming) was ushered into the same world that Eddie Brock / Venom and Morbius inhabit from the MCU 616-Universe.

Several Easter-eggs can be seen in Morbius that serve as shout-outs to Marvel’s Spider-Verse, including The Daily Bugle newspaper with headline references to Black Cat, The Rhino, and The Chameleon. Horizon Labs also makes its live-action on-screen debut in Morbius. This is where Peter Parker worked in the comics during Dan Slott’s Amazing Spider-Man run. There are also references to Venom; most notably, Michael Morbius’ claim that he was “Venom” when asked who he was by a frightened victim. The vampiric turn of Martine Bancroft in the film comes straight out of the comics as well, and Morbius’ friend Milo is loosely based on the Marvel comic book villain Hunger.

Morbius‘ lowly 15% Approval Rating on Rotten Tomatoes makes it the lowest-rated live-action film of all of Sony’s live-action Spider-Man projects. Those movies rate as follows up to this point: # 1 – Spider-Man: No Way Home and Spider-Man 2 (93%), # 3 – Spider-Man: Homecoming (92%), # 4 – Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man (90%), # 6 – The Amazing Spider-Man (72%), # 7 – Spider-Man 3 (63%), # 8 – Venom: Let There Be Carnage (58%), # 9 – The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (51%), # 10 – Venom (30%), and # 11 – Morbius (15%).

Sony Pictures

My Morbius Review

Let me start this review by saying that I love superhero movies. I love comic books. I love Marvel! Because of this, I devote a lot of my free time to Marvel, whether I’m watching movies, watching television shows, reading comic books, posing figures, or writing about all of these things! In a world where happiness is hard to come by at times, Marvel provides me with a positive place to focus my energy and a satisfying way to spend my time. It’s simply one of my things!

Let me also say that I am not a fan of things like toxic fandom. While it is not anyone’s responsibility to like everything, or anything for that matter that Marvel puts out, I don’t get off on dissing the people who work to create content that they hope others will in some way enjoy. That takes vision. It takes patience. It takes talent. It takes a lot of hard work. And I respect all of that. As a fan, I can usually find something to enjoy about most Marvel projects (particularly the films). As a fan, I’m also willing to give every Marvel film a watch.

All of that being said, Morbius wasn’t good. At all. It was poorly, (even deceptively) marketed. It was slow. It was undramatic. It felt uninspired. It was unforgivably sloppy from a narrative standpoint. It was also far too tame.

I really like Jared Leto. I like him as an actor. I like him as a singer. Thirty Seconds to Mars is one of my favorite bands and I even found things to appreciate about his controversial take on iconic DC Comics character The Joker. I also like monster movies and rather enjoy horror films. Vampires specifically, have fascinated me for years in literature and on film, and I like a good (fictitious) scare. And as previously stated, I love Marvel!

So, on paper, this film was right down my alley … but none of it came together in any kind of satisfying way.

Sony Pictures

Where things went wrong is something that everyone who watches Morbius will have an opinion on. For me, I have to start with the horror … or the lack of horror as it were. Monster movies aren’t highly regarded for their narratives, generally speaking, and horror movies with unspectacular scripts and unintentionally horrible acting are a dime a dozen. Those kinds of movies appeal to viewers in different ways, with fright and gore leading the pack. Morbius had none of those things. The PG-13 rating did the film no favors. Morbius is a blood-drinking monstrosity! Violence and gore should be part of the package. This is what people want when they go to see a vampire movie, and Morbius just didn’t have it. And it wasn’t scary, or intense, or unsettling. In fact, this film did not offer a single moment of genuine suspense.

Not a great formula for a monster movie.

I also thought the execution of the effects greatly hindered this film. The decision to go all-digital when practical effects and makeup could have been used to inject a much-needed dose of realism and drama into this movie, was a big mistake in my opinion. At no point did the look of Morbius (or Milo) feel real, and I think practical effects could have helped make the character more personable, which maybe would have made him more likable.

Aesthetically and environmentally, this film had very little going for it, but it gets worse in terms of narrative. For the life of me, I don’t know what Morbius was trying to accomplish as a movie, aside from expanding Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Personally, I believe that was this film’s only real purpose when it came to green lighting it and writing it and marketing it. WE ARE SONY. WE OWN THE FILM RIGHTS TO SPIDER-MAN AND WE MADE TWO VENOM MOVIES SO COME SEE THIS FILM. That was the objective, and it shows.

Michael Morbius is supposed to be a hero, I guess. Or an anti-hero. Or whatever. I guess Sony felt that it worked for Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock / Venom, so it would work for Michael Morbius and then people would want to see the two characters together. However, this film did little to make me care or even like Michael Morbius. Tom Hardy delivered a dual performance that was captivating enough to make his characters endearing because they were funny, awkward, and kind of gross in ways that were entertaining enough to allow his movies to work even without Spider-Man. Many people that I saw talk about Venom didn’t necessarily like the movie, but they liked Eddie, and they liked Venom, and they enjoyed their dynamic enough to emotionally invest in those characters. Sadly, none of that was the case for Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius.

Sony Pictures

Somehow, the filmmakers took an actor that is extremely charismatic and wrote him into a role where all of that charisma was buried. Morbius isn’t funny, and that’s totally okay, but he also isn’t scary, he isn’t creepy, and he isn’t visually captivating in any way that matters. There is very little complexity to his character, and he is timid, soft-spoken, and just altogether devoid of personality. On paper, again, I had every reason to believe that Michael Morbius would be one of the most relatable Marvel characters for me, personally. I struggle with numerous musculoskeletal issues and joint and bone abnormalities and deformities in my real life. I deal with debilitating pain on a daily basis. For someone like me, this should have made Michael Morbius a character that was very easy to root for and to understand, but none of that translated well from page to screen.

Michael Morbius did very little in this film in terms of being a memorable hero. His story is this: he suffers as a child from a rare blood disease, befriends a fellow sick patient, and shows flashes of brilliance that land him in school. He excels, ultimately inventing a revolutionary kind of artificial blood. He works with bats and declines a Nobel Peace Prize. Soon, he surrenders himself to a hopeful cure of his own creation that will splice his genes with the genes of a bat. This works, but with a price, as he is consequently transformed into a vampire who craves human blood. Morbius murders several people in the film on the night of his initial transformation. This is probably the best scene in the movie, but it’s not in any remote way heroic, and he never does anything for the rest of the movie to redeem himself, sans his attempt to not drink any more human blood.

The horrors of his condition provoke Morbius to shut-out his lifelong friend and brother Milo, who consequently decides to take the same path Morbius did … completely off-screen. He shows up suddenly as a murderous vampire that has suffered so much throughout his life, he is completely fine with being a blood-drinking killer. Matt Smith portrays Milo, and he tries to have some fun with the role, at least bringing a little personality to his part, but at the same time, this is a cheesy, over-the-top performance. In fact, there is a dancing sequence with Milo by himself combing his hair that is amongst the stupidest single scenes that I have ever seen in a comic book movie. It’s so bad, it rivals Tobey Maguire’s infamous strut in Spider-Man 3, and I don’t have anything positive to say about both of these awful sequences being produced by the same company. Its sucks. Shame on you, Sony.

I also didn’t like how the story between Milo and Michael was a retread of Harry Osborn and Peter Parker in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. It didn’t work in that film as a convincing motivation for Harry, and it didn’t work here for Milo, and Milo, even more so than Harry, was just such a drastic turn. Up until his vampiric turn, he was the most sympathetic character in the film and then, he was just all of the sudden evil and that was kind of dumb.

From there, the two vampires fight each other, but not before Morbius turns his girlfriend into a vampire. The battle between Morbius and Milo ends with Morbius killing his best friend, who then takes another sudden turn, declaring his remorse for his actions and his brotherly love for Morbius with his dying breath. So, Morbius willingly transformed his girlfriend into the very thing that he adamantly refused to transform his best friend into, coming across as not only a hypocrite, but once again, a killer. Ugh.

Morbius then flies away into the sky to the dismay of the onlooking police (who were completely unlikable and added nothing to the plot of the movie), and that is the end of the main portion of the film. It should also be noted that the Spider-Man: Murderer poster thing that was seen in the trailers and which sparked so much interest and debate, never appeared anywhere in this film. Wow.

Sony Pictures

Now, on to the credits …

My goodness. So, Michael Keaton was never in the main portion of this film either. In fact, the scenes that we saw featuring Keaton in the earliest Morbius trailers were not in this movie at all. These credits scenes were completely re-shot to rework Keaton into the narrative, though very little care was taken in doing this.

All of the sudden (there are those words again), Michael Keaton’s Vulture just shows up in an empty prison cell within Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, having been transferred from the Marvel Cinematic (616) Universe. The glowing purple tear in the Multiverse that was seen at the end of Spider-Man: No Way Home can be seen in the sky, so obviously, that spell cast by Doctor Strange had something to do with Vulture’s transfer. How this is the case is another question altogether however, as that spell was cast to exile the Multiversal Visitors that had ventured to the MCU 616-Universe. Michael Keaton’s Vulture was NOT one of those intruders, and there is no good reason for the spell to have transferred him, unless this spell was also botched to some degree by Strange, which was never implied in No Way Home. To make matters worse, Keaton shows up and is emotionally oblivious to the fact that he has just left his home Universe and arrived in a new one. This is a character that was shown to deeply care for his family in the MCU 616-Universe, and you’d think he would be horrified by being separated from them, but no, he’s just like, “Well, all right. Let’s do this,” It was nonsense.

Then, there is another credits scene with Keaton. In this one, he has been released from prison (because he isn’t guilty of any crimes in this Universe), and then flies in his Vulture suit to the middle of the desert to meet with Michael Morbius. Here, Keaton suggests that his being in this new Universe has something to do with Spider-Man, and then proposes that Morbius join a team that he is putting together to “do some good.”

Look, the whole thing with Keaton having his Vulture suit here MAKES NO SENSE. He didn’t show up in the cell with the suit, and that suit was made using highly advanced Chitauri technology, which doesn’t exist (that we know of) in this Universe where Venom was the first instance of alien life being discovered by humans. Also, that suit was destroyed in Spider-Man: Homecoming! So, I’m watching this, trying to make sense of it all, and that was not easy, because it just totally came out of left field.

Sony Pictures

To be clear, this is not a knock on Michael Keaton. I love him as Adrian Toomes and he was a highlight of Spider-Man: Homecoming as a very relatable and likable villain with loads of personality, attitude, and sense-making motives. It’s not a bad thing that Sony is including him in their future plans. He should add a lot of positive things to this Universe. However, Sony has some explaining to do … that is, assuming they will even try.

Can these inconsistencies be remedied? Of course, they can. It will take Doctor Strange’s second spell being explained as having been at least somewhat botched for some reason. It will take a reveal that maybe the wife and daughter of Adrian Toomes in the MCU 616-Universe lost their lives during the fallout of Thanos’ Snap (car crash, plane crash, etc) and that Toomes has nothing to live for back in that Universe. It can also be revealed that Toomes fell into some money in this new Universe, given the nature of his arrival, which would make him a media sensation, and that it was with this money that he fashioned a new Vulture suit that worked very similarly to the way his previous one did. Maybe he even found a Variant of The Tinkerer in his new Universe. Yes, it can be done, and quite frankly, it needs to be. Sony’s franchise has grown to be adjacently linked to the MCU and it is officially part of the MCU Multiverse. Care should therefore be taken by the parties involved to adhere to previously established continuity and concerted efforts should be made not to contradict things in other movies.

These things are a must going forward.

I want to see this Universe succeed, and I’m pulling for these guys to win, but surely, they can do better.

Highlights of Morbius:

With this character’s disappointing origin story out of the way, now we can see him move on to (hopefully) bigger and better things as a team player alongside other Marvel characters.