In recent years, Sony Pictures has been building out their own interconnected franchise of Marvel movies, beginning with Venom in 2018 and spanning a handful of movies, the most recent of which is Morbius. However, while Sony's Spider-Man Universe has adapted some of Peter Parker's famous villains, the live-action series doesn't have their own webhead just yet. Instead, Sony has confirmation that their Venom and Morbius movies are connected to the MCU via the multiverse, as revealed in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But until Sony introduces Spider-Man to their live-action universe, the movies must stand on their own merits. Unfortunately, Morbius does not. Despite a fine performance from Jared Leto, Morbius is a painfully mediocre superhero origin story, delivering a shallow recreation of better movies.

Leto stars as Dr. Michael Morbius, a scientist with a blood disorder for which he's dedicated his life to finding a cure. He's able to cure himself by splicing his DNA with that of vampire bats, but he turns himself into a living vampire in the process. Michael gains certain abilities ,like super strength and sonar hearing, but he also needs to drink blood in order to survive. Michael's life is made more complicated when his childhood best friend Milo (Matt Smith), who suffers from the same condition, steals the serum that cured Michael and turns himself into a living vampire as well. With the help of his fellow scientist Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) and his father figure Nicholas (Jared Harris), Michael must find a way to put a stop to Milo's murderous rampage on New York City, all while avoiding being arrested by FBI agents Simon Stroud (Tyrese Gibson) and Al Rodriguez (Al Madrigal).

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Jared Leto Morbius

Directed by Daniel Espinosa (Life, Safe House) from a script by the writing duo of Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold, Gods of Egypt), Morbius struggles to find fresh ground to cover in a landscape of superhero movies that have exhausted the standard origin story over the last two decades. The plot of Morbius follows the exact same beats as most superhero movie origins, but where Sazama and Sharpless's script struggles is in the character development. Instead of focusing on who Michael is, Morbius spends much more time explaining the exact powers and abilities he gains with his vampirism, using them to deliver a host of action scenes. But without any compelling character story at the heart of it, even those action set pieces fall flat and fail to set Morbius apart from the host of other superhero movies that already exist.

For their parts, the Morbius cast do their best with the material they're given. Leto's Michael is a fine hero, but he's lacking in personality and motivation. Michael starts out being dedicated to finding a cure, but once that's done, it's as if the movie doesn't know what he wants next. Without the hero as the guiding light of the film, Smith's Milo becomes the clearest character, if only because he does have some semblance of a personality and his motivations are clear. As such, Smith becomes the standout in Morbius, though that isn't saying much since Milo is still a run-of-the-mill villain, especially by Marvel movie standards. Milo falls into the same trap as many MCU villains, where he has the exact same powers as the hero, but he's evil. The rest of the Morbius supporting cast are serviceable, but fail to make much of an impression.

Matt Smith in Morbius
Matt Smith in Morbius

Perhaps what's most frustrating about Morbius is there are elements of the film that could have worked to help make the movie more enjoyable. Early on, when Michael is first turned into a vampire, he stalks the mercenaries on board a ship in an action scene that ramps up the horror of the situation (though it's hindered by the film's PG-13 rating). Espinosa plays with horror in another scene a little later on, but Morbius is unfortunately too concerned with remaining a superhero movie to go full-on horror. Similarly, the friendship between Michael and Milo is meant to be the heart of the movie, but it's not developed enough. So when Milo takes a villainous turn, there's little emotional impact. In the end, Morbius has some interesting ideas and concepts, but Espinosa's execution behind the camera — and Sazama and Sharpless on the script — end up hamstringing the movie.

As a result, Morbius isn't a must-watch entry in Sony's Spider-Man Universe. Those already interested in seeing Morbius may find something to enjoy, especially with Leto and Smith's performances. Perhaps the biggest thing the movie has going for it are its MCU connections, which were teased with Michael Keaton's Adrian Toomes (aka Vulture) showing up in the first trailer. However, these connections are rather minimal and quite puzzling. So while Marvel movie die-hards may be excited by Vulture's appearance, casual fans or those who don't enjoy superhero movies as much will be fine skipping this one.

Next: Morbius Final Trailer Reveals Jared Leto's Finished Vampire Form

Morbius will release in U.S. theaters Thursday evening, March 31st. It is 104 minutes long and rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, some frightening images, and brief strong language.

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