Morbius: Disappointing effort!

YOU know a movie is bad when the most interesting thing about it is a post-credit scene.

Well, that, in a nutshell, sums up the once hugely anticipated “Morbius” movie.

The film has been mocked, lambasted, you name it, by fans and critics alike since its release in April.

The movie tells the story of Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a brilliant doctor diagnosed with a rare blood disorder.

While searching for a cure, he comes up with an idea to splice his genes with that of bats to find a remedy for his condition.

He decides to conduct these experiments on international waters so as to avoid breaking any laws.

Unfortunately, during the process of self-experimenting, he inadvertently turns himself into a vampiric creature blessed with super-strength and echolocation, as well as an unquenchable thirst for blood.

The problem arises when his childhood friend Milo (Mat Smith), who also suffers from a similar condition, demands to get in on the action and take the cure himself.

After Morbius refuses to share, largely due to its monstrous side effects, Milo steals it and goes on a killing rampage that leads police to suspect Morbius of being a serial killer. The film suffers from a litany of glitches, chief being the two-year delay due to the Covid19 pandemic.

Morbius was supposed to have been released on July 31, 2020 but the release date was moved at least five times.

Anticipation grew along the way, especially when the trailers dropped the huge Marvel connection due to the appearance of Michael Keaton’s Adrian Tommes, aka The Vulture, from the “Spider-Man: Homecoming.”

However, when the movie was finally released, Keaton only showed up in two postcredit scenes.

The reason behind his appearance was to hype Sony’s long-term project — the “Sinister Six” movie.

More on that later.

Keaton factor aside, “Morbius” fails to live up to expectations for a number of reasons.

While the plot is simple to follow, it is easy to the point of being predictable.

The action is fast and furious, but gets laboured by terrible CGI (computer-generated images).

Vampire movies are a dime a dozen in modern cinema and filmmakers try way too hard to separate themselves from the pack.

Morbius and Milo’s vampiric presentation is terrible.

There was really no need to draw attention to the echo aspect of bats in their vampire creation. It was just a waste of time and energy. Leto also fails to deliver, as there is really nothing noteworthy about his performance or the Morbius character.

It actually brings up shade to his performance as ‘the Joker’ in the first “Suicide Squad” movie. In the production, Leto came off as a pale imitation of the late Heath Ledger’s clown prince of crime.

Only Matt Smith manages to put up a commendable performance.

The likes of Tyrese Gibson (Simon Stroud), Al Madrigal (Agent Rodriguez), Adria Arjona (Martine Bancroft) and Jared Harris (Dr Emil Nicholas) are all wasted in the movie. But, wait, it is not all gloom and doom. One good thing came out of the movie. For years, “Sinister Six” has been in the works, with Sony slowly but surely putting the pieces together.

Without giving away too much and for the benefit of those yet to watch “Morbius”, midand post-credit scenes serve as groundwork for the Vulture’s introduction into the Sony verse.

Tommes’ arrival all but completes the cast for the “Sinister Six”, which include Paul Giamatti’s Rhino, Tom Hardy’s Venom, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter, Dane DeHaan’s Green Goblin, Bruce Campbell’s Mysterio and, of course, Morbius and Vulture.

All that is left now is Johnson’s “Kraven the Hunter” movie, which will officially introduce the character, after which Sony can proceed with their work.

The production is certainly something to celebrate.

Marvel currently enjoys way too much monopoly, and complacency has already started creeping in.

With DC Comics sinking deeper and deeper into obscurity with every film they release, there is room for Sony to come in and offer some competition.