‘Morbius’ the most anaemic Marvel movie ever made
In the future, every Marvel comics character will have their own movie for 15 minutes.
Right now, the spinning intellectual property wheel has stopped on Dr Michael Morbius – a prizewinning scientist, terminally-ill patient, type-O blood connoisseur.
Initially introduced as a Spiderman villain in the early 70s, the man known as “the living vampire” helped cash in on the horror-crossover craze, and eventually earned his own solo stories in titles like ‘Adventures Into Fear’, where he promised to only feast on those who crossed society’s lines.
His dislikes included web slingers, werewolves, vampire hunters, named after sharp objects (looking at you, Blade), and clothes that were not one-piece jumpsuits with plunging necklines and very large collars.
His likes included Ghost Rider, the blood of the guilty, piña coladas, and long walks on the beach.
When we meet Dr Morbius (Jared Leto), he’s not in good shape; the illness that’s plagued him since his childhood in Greece has left him frail and unable to walk without the help of canes.
But that doesn’t stop him from flying down to Costa Rica, and gathering up every single bat he can find in the name of research.
He’s brilliant, you see, and extremely driven – the gent turned down the Nobel Prize because the lifesaving fake blood he invented “wasn’t up to up his standards”! – and also, he thinks the dozens of winged mammals he keeps in a terrarium in his office, hold the key to a cure.
This ‘Bat-man’, if you will, creates a serum that because it’s highly unethical and completely illegal, he must test on himself while sailing in international waters.
His fellow scientist-slash-romantic-interest Dr Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) is thankfully along for the ride.
The result leaves a ship full of corpses, and her alive, but unconscious.
But it also makes Morbius feel better than ever and gives him superhuman strength, and the ability to glide on the wind – just like his furry little friends. Whereas once Leto sported a Peter Murphy-esque pallor, he’s now jacked and looks like a superhot rock star – call him ‘Thirty Seconds to Morbius’!
The downside is that Morbius craves blood, and he has a tendency to get a little monstrous when he indulges.
The fake blood he invented all those years ago helps keep him stable but only for about six hours. The real stuff lasts longer, but after witnessing the carnage he left on that boat, the doctor has vowed “not to drink the red”.
Unfortunately, his childhood friend Milo (Matt Smith), who suffers from the same disease as Morbius does, has no such compunction about tapping jugulars after he sneakily downs the serum as well.
It’s a pure good vamp/bad vamp showdown from here on out. If it’s not the worst of these films, it’s certainly the most anaemic – and even die-hard fans are apt to feel completely drained by all of it. - Rolling Stone