Where I Watched it: Netflix
English Audio Description Available?: Yes
Yes. I still watched Morbius in September after months of people mocking the film. I kept an open mind. I never go into a Marvel film, Disney or Sony, and assume I’m going to dislike it. But the way some people are talking about this thing, you’d think it already won the Razzie.
If nothing, Morbius has forced Jared Leto into his most human, natural performance in a long time. He can’t hide behind a fat suit, extensive makeup, or a weird accent, he just has to be a guy so wickedly smart he would turn down a Nobel prize. True, there are some effects in here, so he’s not 100% stripped down, but in the scenes where Erik is just by himself, this is pretty close.
If you are willing to take a leap at Morbius, it’s likely that if we are all being honest, the film isn’t this massive flop tragedy that some would bemoan. Is it good? No. It’s a somewhat generic origin story that takes very little risks, probably should have been R rated, and has no idea what to do with Tyrese Gibson.
Tyrese is one of the most naturally entertaining people, and he gets buried in this supporting cop role with Al Madrigal as his partner, and the film can barely justify their presence. Morbius has a love interest that is just as forgettable and useless as Michelle Williams has been in the Venom universe. Matt Smith plays a villain with a ton of potential, but the script fails to really deliver on the friendship before making him the antagonist. Instead of this feeling like two best friends getting ripped apart, or even a storyline like that of Harvey Dent in The Dark knight where someone who could ahve done good is driven to extreme measures, Morbius seems more interested in being as bland as possible.
And why not? People watched Venom. The first film that has an utterly impossible to remember villain. It was no critical darling either, but the one thing the people at Marvel (meaning Kevin Feige) never understood is that Venom has fans. It’s his fault Venom is being squandered. He could bring him into the MCU, but he’s choosing not to out of spite, but those Venom movies will keep happening and keep making money.
And while they do that, Sony will keep searching for the next Venom, with morbius, Kraven The Hunter, or whatever other Spider-Man spinoff they believe is like Venom. And now I know they’ll make every film suck just as much as that first Venom. Just a wave of mediocrity and disappointment. Except, morbius is not Venom. Venom is the only Venom. Morbius actually needed a good film, a great director, amazing vision, and a rating that kept blue blood off the screen.
So, while I appreciate that Jared leto has the ability to just be normal, Morbius is methodically average. And with the quality of Marvel films being what they are, that’s disappointing. however, the unpopular opinion I’m about to drop is that I enjoyed Morbius more than Eternals.
Final Grade: C-