Morbius

After countless delays and pushed back premiere dates, Morbius has finally hit the big screen, sadly without much interest or fanfare.  Even worse, without many favorable reviews from critics.  I was having second thoughts about going, but I had purchased my ticket a few weeks back.  After all, for me an opportunity to take in a new Marvel film in the theater isn’t something to bypass lightly.  Not really knowing what I was in for, I grabbed my movie bag and venture to my favorite theater to see what’s what.

Other than the few trailers I’d seen beforehand, I went into Morbius cold, never having read any of the comics and being completely unfamiliar with the character. I can’t say anything about how the film holds up to “canon” as a result.  I can say that Morbius the film is a straight up origins film and for my time and money a fairly solid one at that.  I’ve definitely seen much worse.

While there’s no deep dive into the character of Michael Morbius but we’re given enough info (though some of it’s vague) as to who he is, his motivations, and the type of person he is to make the film work.  Morbius is heavily CGI, most of it well executed and effective, there is some overuse as well that becomes campy, but again nothing that’s a detriment to the overall film viewing experience.  The same holds true with the prosthetics as well, particularly in the case of Matt Smith’s Milo (there a couple of scenes that made me laugh-out-loud when I shouldn’t have).  

Morbius is stunningly atmospheric and has plenty of good action, nice touches of humor, and humanity.  A strong cast does there best and gives it there all to their credit.  Due to the runtime of an hour fort-four minutes the character development is limited but leaves enough of an impression to want to see where they go next. The ending is also anticlimactic as a result as well. Quite abrupt to say the least.

Predictability/formulaic is also present, yet the film remains interesting and entertaining nonetheless.  It’s also clear that given the subject/plot that an R-Rated film would’ve been a better choice for this one than going the PG-13 route.  Tempering the blood and violence to get the more kid friendly rating definitely impacted the handling of the film and toning it down didn’t do anyone any favors.

From my viewpoint, Morbius isn’t the greatest but it most certainly isn’t the worse either.  I was intrigued, never bored, an entertained the entire film.  Yes, there are questions I have and holes that I want filled but I’m glad I went and saw it on the big screen.  I most certainly want to see what’s next for the characters/franchise as well. Do you NEED to see this one at the theater?  No, waiting for a home viewing will probably work just as well.  But, if you WANT to see it on the big screen, I say go for it.  It’s a fun little popcorn flick that doesn’t deserve the haterade being thrown at it in my opinion.  

Morbius gets a 7 from me.  

Oh, don’t bolt right away, you get a couple of credit scenes.