Morbius (2022)

Director: Daniel Espinosa

Starring: Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Adria Arjona

Biochemist Michael Morbius tries to cure himself of a rare blood disease, but he inadvertently infects himself with a form of vampirism instead.

Critics didn’t like it. I did. ‘Morbius’ tells the story of brilliant scientist Michael Morbius, who suffers from a rare blood disease.

Morbius (Jared Leto) befriended Lucien/Milo (Matt Smith) from a very young age when they both were in the same hospital with the same blood disease. From this young age, Morbius was a promising young man, who ensured Milo he would one day find a cure. The character set-up was good enough for me to root for them and understand why they did what they did later in life.

Desperate to found a cure and become ‘normal’, Morbius’ methods are unorthodox, to say the least, as he pushes the boundaries of what is considered acceptable for the sake of science. Morbius succeeded in finding a cure, with blood taken from vampire bats. However, it turned out to be a curse, as the cure would be short-lived with the effects wearing off after just a few hours. And it turned him into a vicious blood-craving vampire.

‘Morbius’ is an entirely new take on the vampire genre. Maybe we should call him the new generation Batman – ha-ha-ha!! Many scenes reminded me of ‘Batman’, and I had to convince myself this was actually a vampire movie and not a ‘Batman’ entry.

The storytelling made the film feel more realistic than most vampire movies. Opposed to killing, Morbius doesn’t want to drink human blood, but just how long can he resist? Find out for yourself! With action, adventure, drama, suspense, fantasy, horror and even time for romance, ‘Morbius’ was an exciting – yet very different – superhero movie. I also enjoyed the lack of humour, considering this is a Marvel movie and they so love adding humour!

The antagonist turns out to be Morbius’ own best friend. This character ended up so similar to other Marvel villains that there was nothing really remarkable about him. Nevertheless, he was still an evil villain.

The visual effects and make-up were fantastic. My only criticism were the finale. The climax is your typical Hollywood superhero, over-the-top, CGI laden, create-as-much-havoc-as-possible cliche. I felt this could have been toned down and would have been more effective in the process. Regardless, I still enjoyed ‘Morbius’ very much.

‘Morbius’ earned nearly $164 million on a $75 million budget.

Would I watch it again? Yes.