Morbius, “The Living Vampire,”
was introduced in Marvel Comics’ “The Amazing Spider-Man” No. 101, October
1971, as Spider-Man’s latest adversary.In any poll of Spider-Man
villains, he’s likely to place below Doctor Octopus and the Green Goblin, but
well above the Chameleon, the Molten Man, and the Ringmaster.Under a succession of writers
and artists, the character later switched out from bad guy to anti-hero, and
anchored several decades’ worth of comics on his own.Although never a sales-leader
like Spider-Man, he was popular enough that studios began to talk about his
movie potential as far back as 1998.The concept went through several caretakers, finally emerging as
“Morbius,” a 2022 production from Columbia Pictures, Marvel Entertainment, and
Sony Pictures.The film
is now available on Blu-ray, 4K Ultra High Definition, and DVD from Sony
Pictures Home Entertainment.
The story
centers on Dr. Michael Morbius (Jared Leto), a medical researcher and Nobel
Prize recipient for his revolutionary invention of “artificial blood.” His
foster father and mentor, Dr. Emil Nicholas (Jared Harris), is pleased by Morbius’
success, but the scientist himself is less than gratified.The discovery fell short of
what he actually wanted to devise, a cure for his lifelong, progressively
debilitating blood disease.Bankrolled
by his wealthy friend Milo (Matt Smith) who suffers from the same affliction,
he moves his laboratory offshore to begin a trial that “isn’t exactly legal,”
since it involves creating a serum from the blood of smuggled vampire bats.As Bela Lugosi might have
warned, beware of anything having to do with vampire bat blood.
As in the
1971 comic-book origin story, the serum reverses Morbius’ illness but turns him
into a super-strong, super-fast vampire with a demonic mug, scary fangs, the
ability to fly, and an uncontrollable thirst for human blood.His supply of artificial blood
provides temporary relief, enabling him to change back to revitalized human
form, but the reprieve lasts only a few hours, and he’s still driven by
compulsion for the real deal.Learning
that Mobius found a cure for their disease, Milo steals the serum.Even after turning into a
vampire too, he doesn’t care.Revitalized
into a preening dandy (much like Matt Smith’s previous role as Jack the pimp in
2021’s “Last Night in Soho”), he begins to trawl singles bars for victims.When New York City experiences
a wave of vampire murders, two police detectives, Stroud (Tyrese Gibson) and
Rodriguez (Al Madrigal), close in on Morbius as their prime suspect, unaware he
isn’t the only monster in town.
Originally
planned for a 2020 release but delayed by the Covid lockdown,“Morbius” met with
disappointing box-office—$39 million in tickets on its April 1, 2022, opening
weekend compared with $261 million for the December 17, 2021, opening of
“Spider-Man: No Way Home.”The
receipts dropped even more precipitously over the second weekend, to $10.2
million, after negative reviews and tepid word-of-mouth.The movie’s CGI effects are
well executed and, in fact, occasionally even better than some in the
Spider-Man pictures, but fans of super-hero action were probably disappointed.Morbius doesn’t begin to fly
and punch through steel until well into the 104-minute running time, following
a long, glum backstory about Morbius’ and Milo’s miserable childhood as the
sickly victims of bullies.
Fans of
today’s intense horror films will feel short-changed too, since the
Marvel-friendly, PG-13 rating precludes any extreme vampire mayhem.The scary scenes follow a
predictable pattern, as do all the subsidiary elements that might have been
lifted from any “Fast and Furious” or “G.I. Joe” picture.Mercenaries fire off thousands
of rounds in a noisy firefight, the cops chasing the hero are dutiful but
clueless, and despite an M.D. degree, Morbius’ girlfriend (Adria Arjona) stands
out mostly as eye candy in a skimpy T-shirt at a lab console.In the second half, when the
liberated vampire Milo tells the anguished vampire Morbius to give in to his
urges and “stop denying who you are,” the allegory is as subtle as one of
Morbius’ vampire bites—and for those who go to escapist fantasy movies for a
short respite from today’s barrage of divisive social issues on CNN and
Twitter, just as unnecessary.
The Sony
Pictures Home Entertainment Blu-ray offers an excellent transfer of the movie
at the correct 2.39:1 aspect.The
disc is loaded with special features for movie enthusiasts, including outtakes
and bloopers, and short production documentaries.Such add-ons often seem
excessive for B-level material like “Morbius,” but they’re esteemed by fans,
and who’s to say if today’s B-movie won’t be tomorrow’s rediscovered
masterpiece?A feature
called “Nocturnal Easter Eggs” points out linkages with the larger Marvel
Cinematic Universe that all but the most trivia-savvy viewers would miss
otherwise.The set also contains the film in DVD and digital download formats.
If Morbius
returns as seems likely from two inter-credit scenes at the end, you can bet on
two things.He’ll join up
with other characters from the MCU and he’ll develop a sense of humor, the
trajectory established by all the other Marvel films.