In the realm of Marvel, there is a way (Iron Man 2), the bad (The Eternals)… and now there is Morbius.
Even in the less successful Marvel Studios films, there was something, a screenplay effort, unique special effects, a subplot that promised to be explored in another feature film. The nothing. Morbius is, as the Americans say, “dead on arrival”, that is to say dead before even having seen the light of day.
Michael Morbius (Jared Leto) has suffered from a blood disease since he was little. Not only does this physically handicap her, but it forces her to resort to three transfusions a day or else death is guaranteed. Having become a renowned researcher – he even refuses the Nobel Prize for his invention of artificial blood – he never stops looking for a cure for this disease, which also affects Loxias Crown (Matt Smith), his childhood friend.
In caves in Costa Rica, he discovers that a blood transfusion from a vampire bat offers him… momentary healing and some unexpected side effects, including turning him into a human bloodthirsty monster. With the help of Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona), a researcher and her assistant – with whom he is in love – he will try to escape this atrocious fate. I almost forgot, New York cops (Tyrese Gibson and Al Madrigal) are on his heels, making him responsible for many mysterious deaths.
The first 50 minutes of this 108-minute production, including two additional scenes during the credits – which are just as bad as the film – generate incredulous amazement in the viewer. Indeed, it feels like every scene, every shot, every special effect is taken from another feature film. Morbius does not want to consume human blood? Twilight. Morbius is struggling to master his inner monster? The Incredible Hulk. Morbius finds himself in the middle of bats? Batman – The Beginning. Even the visual effects are recycled. The dark fumaroles that accompany its transformation? Nightcrawler in X2 Where Unreleased Dracula. His monster face? Buffy, Angel, Frankenstein. Slow motion during certain scenes? The bullet time of The matrix. Morbius poses on skyscrapers? Any of Spider-Man. And then, too, pell-mell, The werewolf, Alien, The thing, The Joker, etc down to the music which, like that of a bad horror movie, indicates when to be worried.
And when the first half of Morbius ends, this indigestible “patchwork” or “mashup” begins once more in an endless loop, giving the impression that the bosses of Marvel studios had the scenario generated by an artificial “intelligence”.
So, bad this “Morbius” directed by Daniel Espinosa? No. Worse.
Rating: 1 out of 5
