MORBIUS
***
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Screenwriters: Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, based on the Marvel Comics by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane.
Principal cast:
Jared Leto
Matt Smith
Adria Arjona
Jared Harris
Al Madrigal
Tyrese Gibson
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 104 mins.
Australian release date: 31 March 2022.
If you’ve ever seen one of the many movie versions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic horror novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [sic], especially Rouben Mamoulian’s 1931 adaptation with the Oscar-winning Fredric March or Victor Fleming’s 1941 take starring Spencer Tracy, then you might want to skip Morbius, the latest outing from the Marvel Comic Universe (to be more precise, it’s part of the MCU offshoot, Sony's ‘Spider-Man Universe’). Sure, the creators have thrown in some vampire bats and blood-drinking along with the bedlam but the plot owes more to Stevenson that Bram Stoker as it is essentially the story of a scientist transformed into a monster by imbibing a serum he has invented. When asked by an assistant how he feels after the transformation, Dr. Michael Morbius says it’s like “Something primal… and it wants to hunt”, words which could have been uttered by Dr. Jekyll about morphing into the evil Mr. Hyde.
We first meet Michael when he’s a boy (Charlie Shotwell) with a rare and fatal blood disorder. In the Greek sanitorium where he is having treatment he meets and bonds with another boy with the same malady, Lucien, who he calls Milo (Joseph Esson). Their friendship is curtailed, however, when young Michael exhibits a precocious talent for science and is taken to a school for gifted children. The pals stay in touch though and Michael matures into the dedicated biochemist Dr. Morbius (Jared Leto) and Milo (Matt Smith) becomes a wealthy bon vivant who helps to bankroll Morbius’ research. Both are still suffering from their terrible, enfeebling disease and time is running out, although Morbius is desperately searching for a cure and feels he’s getting close. He's working on a possible antidote using genetic material from vampire bats because of its anticoagulating qualities and has begun experimenting on himself. While it succeeds in giving strength to his weak limbs, it also has terrible side-effects - like the insatiable desire to consume blood. Thus, he keeps the discovery to himself but Milo finds out and accuses his friend of holding out on him, unafraid of the vampiric consequences of taking the imperfect cure. Needless to say, Morbius is not willing to let that happen, even if it means sacrificing himself.
Swedish director Daniel Espinosa, whose last film Life was released in 2017, has taken a pretty straight forward approach to the fairly ordinary screenplay. The VFX are terrific but there’s not enough tension to keep viewers thoroughly engaged. Mercifully, Morbius only runs for an hour and three-quarters, rather than the two-and-a-half to three that seems to be de rigeur for so many movies today. Although Jared Leto used latex prosthetics to transform into Paolo Gucci in last year’s House of Gucci, this time the actor wanted to take the computer-generated visual effects route for his transmutation from the good doctor into the evil vampire and it works well. It means that the VFX are added in the studio while the actor is free to ply his craft without spending hours having prosthetics and make-up applied. “I’m attracted to roles where there’s an opportunity to transform – physical transformation, but also mental, emotional, any and all… I played Dr. Michael Morbius from his most frail, to his most powerful, to his most monstrous. There’s a lot of range in there, so that was really fun to tackle” explains Leto. English actor Matt Smith looks like he was having a lot of fun, too.
Regrettably, however, they probably had more fun making Morbius than the audience will in watching it. It remains to be seen how well it will do at the box office but the film’s critical reception has been muted. Still, I suspect we haven’t seen the last of Dr. Michael Morbius. He may not have another entire movie dedicated to his adventures but I expect he will crop up again somewhere in the Spider-Man Universe.
Screenwriters: Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, based on the Marvel Comics by Roy Thomas and Gil Kane.
Principal cast:
Jared Leto
Matt Smith
Adria Arjona
Jared Harris
Al Madrigal
Tyrese Gibson
Country: USA
Classification: M
Runtime: 104 mins.
Australian release date: 31 March 2022.
If you’ve ever seen one of the many movie versions of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic horror novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde [sic], especially Rouben Mamoulian’s 1931 adaptation with the Oscar-winning Fredric March or Victor Fleming’s 1941 take starring Spencer Tracy, then you might want to skip Morbius, the latest outing from the Marvel Comic Universe (to be more precise, it’s part of the MCU offshoot, Sony's ‘Spider-Man Universe’). Sure, the creators have thrown in some vampire bats and blood-drinking along with the bedlam but the plot owes more to Stevenson that Bram Stoker as it is essentially the story of a scientist transformed into a monster by imbibing a serum he has invented. When asked by an assistant how he feels after the transformation, Dr. Michael Morbius says it’s like “Something primal… and it wants to hunt”, words which could have been uttered by Dr. Jekyll about morphing into the evil Mr. Hyde.
We first meet Michael when he’s a boy (Charlie Shotwell) with a rare and fatal blood disorder. In the Greek sanitorium where he is having treatment he meets and bonds with another boy with the same malady, Lucien, who he calls Milo (Joseph Esson). Their friendship is curtailed, however, when young Michael exhibits a precocious talent for science and is taken to a school for gifted children. The pals stay in touch though and Michael matures into the dedicated biochemist Dr. Morbius (Jared Leto) and Milo (Matt Smith) becomes a wealthy bon vivant who helps to bankroll Morbius’ research. Both are still suffering from their terrible, enfeebling disease and time is running out, although Morbius is desperately searching for a cure and feels he’s getting close. He's working on a possible antidote using genetic material from vampire bats because of its anticoagulating qualities and has begun experimenting on himself. While it succeeds in giving strength to his weak limbs, it also has terrible side-effects - like the insatiable desire to consume blood. Thus, he keeps the discovery to himself but Milo finds out and accuses his friend of holding out on him, unafraid of the vampiric consequences of taking the imperfect cure. Needless to say, Morbius is not willing to let that happen, even if it means sacrificing himself.
Swedish director Daniel Espinosa, whose last film Life was released in 2017, has taken a pretty straight forward approach to the fairly ordinary screenplay. The VFX are terrific but there’s not enough tension to keep viewers thoroughly engaged. Mercifully, Morbius only runs for an hour and three-quarters, rather than the two-and-a-half to three that seems to be de rigeur for so many movies today. Although Jared Leto used latex prosthetics to transform into Paolo Gucci in last year’s House of Gucci, this time the actor wanted to take the computer-generated visual effects route for his transmutation from the good doctor into the evil vampire and it works well. It means that the VFX are added in the studio while the actor is free to ply his craft without spending hours having prosthetics and make-up applied. “I’m attracted to roles where there’s an opportunity to transform – physical transformation, but also mental, emotional, any and all… I played Dr. Michael Morbius from his most frail, to his most powerful, to his most monstrous. There’s a lot of range in there, so that was really fun to tackle” explains Leto. English actor Matt Smith looks like he was having a lot of fun, too.
Regrettably, however, they probably had more fun making Morbius than the audience will in watching it. It remains to be seen how well it will do at the box office but the film’s critical reception has been muted. Still, I suspect we haven’t seen the last of Dr. Michael Morbius. He may not have another entire movie dedicated to his adventures but I expect he will crop up again somewhere in the Spider-Man Universe.