Some may say the writing was on the wall for Daniel Espinosa\u2019s <\/span>Morbius<\/span><\/a> a long time ago.<\/span><\/p>\n First, the film suffered continual delays giving it up to seven different release dates, with fortune clearly not favouring the superheroic vampire flick. Since then, early reactions have been negative, its perplexing marketing has everyone befuddled (it seems <\/span>every<\/span><\/i> Spider-Man could potentially be in this, or perhaps none at all?) and based on a recent Matt Smith interview even the cast seem confused over which characters they\u2019re actually playing.<\/span><\/p>\n Altogether, it would be no surprise if Sony isn\u2019t too confident about <\/span>Morbius<\/span> finally going toe-to-toe with the general public.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But is the film as bad as these early warning signs indicate? Well, it\u2019s not far off. <\/span>Morbius<\/span> has a dated plot worthy of a 2005 superhero cash-in that collides with visually confusing CGI to create a bit of a snooze fest. It\u2019s not the worst superhero film ever made, but it\u2019s certainly one of the most predictable in years.<\/span><\/p>\n Still, before we delve into <\/span>Morbius<\/span>\u2019 multitude of mistakes, let\u2019s get to know its main character a little better \u2013 and be warned, there are plot spoilers ahead<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p> Michael Morbius\u2019 origin story is delivered like a vaccine appointment \u2013 injected all at once and over in the blink of an eye.<\/span><\/p>\n Michael was raised within a facility for individuals with incurable illnesses, protected by Jared Harris\u2019 Dr Nicholas,\u00a0 where he meets eventual foe Loxias\u2026 no wait, it\u2019s Lucien\u2026 or is it Milo? Later portrayed by Matt Smith as an adult, this character\u2019s identity is unnecessarily muddled, sporting two different names that he\u2019s referred to by during the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n Anyway, in these early days the two form a fast bond and commit themselves to curing their ailments, which is what later leads Michael into becoming the titular blood-sucking figure.<\/span><\/p>\n Flash forward a few years. In his adult life, Michael has become a doctor, committing himself to helping children with life-long ailments and famous for developing a form of artificial blood (the side-effect of his experimental endeavours into curing his own affliction).<\/span><\/p>\n Secretly, he\u2019s been tinkering with genetic splicing using DNA taken from vampire bats, which Michael claims have self-regenerating properties. Once they finally strike the perfect balance, there\u2019s nothing left but for Michael to become his own guinea pig, and I\u2019m sure you can guess how that ends.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s predictable mad-scientist stuff, though the story is familiar in other ways too. In fact, the entire structure of <\/span>Morbius<\/span> is strikingly similar to Sony\u2019s other Spider-Man spin-off <\/span>Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage<\/span>, right down to a crossover-teasing post-credits scene.<\/span><\/p>\n In both, the hero accidentally gives the villain his power, they become a mirror image of one another, the villain kidnaps a loved one leading to a climactic showdown, and you\u2019re home in time for tea. <\/span>Sony appears to think it\u2019s found the winning formula here, and they\u2019ve certainly found <\/span>a<\/span><\/i> formula: it\u2019s just a recipe for poison rather than success.<\/span><\/p>\n Leto can be a polarising actor, with his performances running the gamut from Oscar-winning performances like <\/span>Dallas Buyers Club<\/span>\u2019s Rayon all the way to his Super Mario-esque Paolo in last year\u2019s House of Gucci.<\/span><\/p>\n Morbius lands right down the middle \u2013 Leto competently hits all the beats that are required of him, fulfilling the Tragic Hero stereotype as he battles first with his life-long illness and then his vampirism, but ultimately this is not a performance that will be commended or remembered down the line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, any superhero is only as good as his arch-nemesis, but Morbius falls down here too. The development of Milo and Michael\u2019s friends-to-enemies relationship is eye-rollingly predictable, to the point where you can predict what they will say to one another during a showdown; one proclaims their side-effect to be a curse, whilst the other embraces it as a blessing.<\/span><\/p>\n It is the most basic of villain characterisations we have seen time and time again and feels like writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless forgot they had to hand in a script until the night before the deadline. <\/span><\/p>\n Despite this, Smith is far and away Morbius\u2019 best performer, delivering a playful villainous foil to the lacklustre moral heroics of Leto, gallivanting in clubs in sharply-dressed suits, revitalised with a positive (or maybe B-positive) attitude.<\/span><\/p>\n Milo\u2019s dastardly antics are how <\/span>Morbius<\/span> folds in Tyrese Gibson\u2019s character Simon Stroud, a role many actors would relish. Where else can you collect a paycheck for walking approximately 10 feet down a path, slightly scowling as you deliver your single line of the scene?<\/span><\/p>\n On the visual side, it\u2019s evident that the film\u2019s VFX teams were told to ensure Leto and Smith\u2019s vampiric transformations look every bit as life-like as the creatures and aliens of the MCU, and to their credit, they do pull off a quite convincing appearance \u2013 but similar to <\/span>Venom<\/span>\u2019s monochromatic goo monsters colliding, the biggest issue comes when they fight.<\/span><\/p>\n After Milo\u2019s surprisingly short reign of terror over the Big Apple, he takes hostage paint-by-numbers romantic interest Martine Bancroft, played by the sadly underutilised Adria Arjona, leading Michael and Milo to face off in an anticlimactic final battle.<\/span><\/p>\n As they clash, the pair are often shrouded by monolithic chunks of CGI debris literally covering the screen, preventing you from seeing much of the action at all. It\u2019s a complete state of visual confusion, and it\u2019s often difficult to make out which of the two near-identical flying shapes is actually the hero.<\/span><\/p>\n Strangely, despite this film having been delayed for over two years, there are also some basic technical issues with the sound \u2013 conversations come across as quiet muffles compared to the cacophony of sound effects and dramatic score screaming over them. This could seem like nitpicking, but generally two basic qualities of the cinematic experience are being able to hear and see what is on screen.<\/span><\/p>\n Behind-the-scenes, it\u2019s no secret that Sony has found some challenges in creating its own Spider-Man Universe against the monolithic success of the MCU, in no small part due to sucking up an iconic superhero\u2019s villains into a narrative vacuum and trying to define them in a world without the web-slinger.<\/span><\/p>\n This time, Sony seems to have taken a page from the Marvel Studios marketing bible, but misinterpreted it along the way. From the off, it filled its trailers and marketing materials with Spider-Man Easter eggs and hints at how the film would connect to Tom Holland\u2019s web-slinger, but for some reason the finished film exterminates almost all of these nods.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a controversial move already, and further muddles the Sony Marvel universe\u2019s status. Many have speculated as to which universe <\/span>Morbius<\/span> takes place in, given the (supposed) inclusion of Michael Keaton\u2019s MCU character The Vulture and the Oscorp Tower seen in Andrew Garfield\u2019s Amazing Spider-Man duology at the same time (both were glimpsed in marketing material).<\/span><\/p>\n So which universe <\/span>is <\/span><\/i>Morbius<\/span> in? After seeing the film, the answer seems to be whatever Sony thinks will make it the most money at the time. This is most painfully transparent in <\/span>Morbius<\/span>\u2019 nonsensical post-credits scenes: quite possibly some of the worst fans will have to watch in a long time.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s rare that films can ever exhibit an objectively bad quality. After all, film is an immensely subjective experience. But ironically, this is <\/span>Morbius<\/span>\u2019 greatest achievement, surpassing the negative hype to reach new depths of disappointment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Morbius<\/span> is undoubtedly Sony\u2019s greatest misstep so far \u2013 there\u2019s little enjoyment to be had for both fans of the comic-book character and general audiences alike. The dated superhero movie mould from which <\/span>Morbius<\/span> has been cut has been long abandoned by movie studios, and for good reason. However, Sony doesn\u2019t seem to realise that \u2013 or maybe it just doesn\u2019t care, as long as it makes money.<\/span><\/p>\n Ultimately, <\/span>Morbius<\/span> sucks \u2013 just not in the way you\u2019d expect.<\/span><\/p>\n Morbius is in UK cinema from Thursday 31st March. For more, check out our dedicated Sci-Fi<\/a> page or our full TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>\u00a0to get each issue delivered to your door. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the\u00a0Radio Times podcast<\/a>\u00a0with Jane Garvey.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n By Sabastian Astley Published: Thursday, 31 March 2022 at 12:00 am 2.0 out of 5 star rating Some may say the writing was on the wall for Daniel Espinosa\u2019s Morbius a long time ago. First, the film suffered continual delays giving it up to seven different release dates, with fortune clearly not favouring the superheroic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":13087,"template":"","categories":[6],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/morbius-review-jared-leto-movie-reaches-new-depths-of-disappointment.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/morbius-review-jared-leto-movie-reaches-new-depths-of-disappointment-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/morbius-review-jared-leto-movie-reaches-new-depths-of-disappointment-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/morbius-review-jared-leto-movie-reaches-new-depths-of-disappointment.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/morbius-review-jared-leto-movie-reaches-new-depths-of-disappointment.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/morbius-review-jared-leto-movie-reaches-new-depths-of-disappointment.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/03\/morbius-review-jared-leto-movie-reaches-new-depths-of-disappointment.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Sabastian Astley Published: Thursday, 31 March 2022 at 12:00 am 2.0 out of 5 star rating Some may say the writing was on the wall for Daniel Espinosa\u2019s Morbius a long time ago. First, the film suffered continual delays giving it up to seven different release dates, with fortune clearly not favouring the superheroic…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/13086"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/03\/morbius-jared-leto-2-7022ac5.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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