I have seen many Marvel movies in my lifetime. Whether they be the more recent examples or the stuff we got in the 90s and early 2000s, it's safe to say that I've seen most, if not, all of 'em! The MCU has obviously had a solid run in terms of box office and quality, but what about those earlier efforts? Movies like Blade, Fantastic Four (2005), Ghost Rider, and Daredevil (2003)? Sure, the quality isn't up to today's standards (even though Blade 1 and 2 are all-time classics in my eyes) but those movies hold a special place in my heart because I grew up watching them countless times. Why am I bringing these up? Because Sony's newest comic book effort Morbius feels like it's plucked straight out of the early 2000s in terms of storytelling, acting, effects, runtime, and the overall vibe. And boy, do I kind of love it for that reason. 

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Let me just say straight off the bat that no...it's not good. It's bad. Really, really bad. It's even kind of boring at times. But it's that crappy kind of movie that I miss. Not offensively bad, but a complete swing and a miss that I feel like we don't get often enough anymore. Morbius is a basic origin story for another Spider-Man villain (Just like Venom and the upcoming Kraven the Hunter) where we follow Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) trying to cure a life-crippling disease with the use of vampire bats and, in the process, turning himself into a vampire. There are side characters but the movie focuses mainly on Michael, who's about as generic as they come. He's a mostly good guy that now has this almost Jekyll & Hyde personality that he doesn’t have the ability to control. This aspect of the character should be interesting but Morbius never expands upon it. 

 

Morbius needs to function as a superhero movie of course so we need a villain for Michael Morbius to fight when Morbius himself should've been enough - considering he's a villain in the comics but you NEED Morbius to fight someone. It has to happen. The comic book movie gods require it! So you get exactly what you'd expect at this point: bland action, below-average special effects, a forgettable main hero, lame side characters, a weak script, and a jumbled story that tries to balance WAY too many things on a relatively short 100-minute runtime. Morbius even DARES to try to connect this to some sort of weird universe that Sony wants to create out of Spider-Man villains - which I can't see working at all, especially after the embarrassingly bad post-credit scenes. The only positive I have is Matt Smith, who plays our hero’s villain, is actually very good. I would even argue he's better than a lot of the MCU villains thus far. His reasoning is a little silly and over the top but he plays the character well and is clearly having a fun time. 

 

With all of that being said, I really appreciate this movie. I had a goofy smile on my face almost the entire runtime. Was it bad? Oh yeah! It was terrible! But it reminded me of so many older Marvel movies that I hold near and dear to my heart because I grew up with them. I still look back fondly on those. Morbius reminds me so much of those to the point where if Wesley Snipes as Blade showed up then I wouldn't have been surprised. Overall, I can't recommend it unless you're a weirdo like me. Jared Leto sure knows how to pick 'em when it comes to comic book villains huh?