Morbius
Starring Jared Leto, Matt Smith and Adria Arjona
Rated M
Morbius is a severely unfocused vampire action film carried by its antagonist.
Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a genius doctor with a debilitating blood disease, becomes a vampire in his quest for a cure.
The star attraction of Morbius is Michael’s brother Milo/Lucien (Matt Smith), who has the same blood disorder. The performances are solid yet very low-key, but Smith brings brash, swaggering life to the proceedings as a man who embraces his own vampirism and the monstrous freedom it gives him (and the Doctor Who references are amusing). The plot is driven by a decent sibling rivalry, with an effective twist in the second act.
Beyond the engaging clash between brothers, Morbius is slow, distracted and smothered in contrivance.
Michael and Milo’s characterisation feels reversed early on: Milo lashes out at a bully in an impulsive but understandable manner as a boy, but Michael is the one acting illegally and recklessly as an adult.
The film establishes the diminishing effect of artificial blood in keeping Michael’s vampirism stable, but this conflict lacks urgency later in the film. Michael’s romantic connection to Dr Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona) is superfluous, the film has a pointless subplot with two gormless investigators, and Jared Harris is wasted as Michael and Milo’s rarely-seen father.
A vampire action movie that shows barely any blood is a serious missed opportunity. The action scenes are short, hard-to-follow fogs of motion, and the climax is an absolute mess, with a Deus Ex Machina (resolution that comes out of nowhere) involving bats.
The trailers made Morbius look much worse than it really is, but it’s still an anaemic vampire movie made watchable by its villain, and is playing in most Victorian cinemas.
– Seth Lukas Hynes
