After two “Venom” films, “Morbius”, the latest film from Sony’s Spider-Man universe, has been on screen for a few days. If you want to see the film at home, later on, you can already order it as a limited edition, among other things.
As the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) continues to grow with multiple films year after year, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe (SSU) is also beginning to take shape. After Sony had already produced three “Spider-Man” films with Tom Holland in the title role, it is now the well-known adversaries of the friendly spider next door, especially from the comics, who are supposed to find their way into the cinema. After two “Venom” films, which primarily live from the boundless playfulness of leading actor Tom Hardy, after a long wait, Jared Leto has finally been able to be seen as Morbius in local cinemas since March 31, 2022.
And it’s an extraordinary Marvel film that many fans have been particularly excited (and long) awaiting. Because “Morbius” was postponed again and again, most recently because of the mega-blockbuster “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, which they wanted to give even more time for its impressive triumph at the box office. Even during the latter already experience at home* you have to be patient until the home cinema launch of Marvel’s vampire horror actioner. However, impatient comic fans can already secure their copy now – although it might be worth pre-ordering, especially in the case of the limited edition:
With the recent ties between the MCU and SSU, Marvel collectors can’t avoid putting “Morbius” on their shelves. Steelbook fans can also be happy: Like all previous films from both heroic universes, “Morbius” will also be released as a limited edition in the popular steel jacket. However, we cannot give an unreserved purchase recommendation – which unfortunately is mainly due to the film itself.
“Morbius”: Generic CGI fireworks
The screen debut of Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), who after decades of research is finally about to find a cure for his rare blood disease, starts out very promising and suggests right at the beginning that the wait for the bloodsucker actioner was actually worth it. A fallacy.
“Morbius” begins as an atmospheric and, above all, dark little horror highlight that you wouldn’t necessarily expect from a Marvel film. The bloodsucker makes short work of a mercenary force aboard a ship and is thus introduced as a truly menacing killing machine. However, that strong start is followed by a lot of the rest of the film, in which hardly anything is right.
Not only does this staging consistency give way to unnecessary attempts at justification in the course of the film, which are intended to make it abundantly clear that only the bad guys get it anyway. But there are other reasons why the tension continues to dissipate.
On the one hand, in the cobbled-together plot, at the latest with Morbius’ transformation into a vampire, a certain minimum level of logic is lost, which one can also ask for a bloodsucker comic adventure, on the other hand, the film by Daniel Espinosa (“Life”) above all degenerates in the end into a loveless and soulless CGI battle, while the potentially exciting backstory of the main characters fades more and more into the background. The pinnacle of misery: a finale in which ugly computer-generated monsters smack each other. Presenting such a showdown to the audience in 2022 is not only not contemporary, but also hopelessly uncreative. This can be done better.
