Morbius Movie Review

By: Mariah Smith

*Disclaimer, I am still a student and not a professional in the VFX/CGI industry! This is my intake on the film and the effects within this movie. *

The wait is finally over! With an original release date back in 2020, “Morbius” was finally released after being delayed six times due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. I’m honored and thrilled to discuss the new villain of the Spider-man universe! So, without further ado, let’s jump right in and discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of the new Marvel-associated film.

         Starting off with the good stuff, in 2018, I was stoked to hear Jared Leto would be playing the role of Dr. Michael Morbius. I know many people out there are not fans of Leto and his acting, but I really thought this role did do him some justice, especially after his role as the Joker in the 2016 adaption of “Suicide Squad.” For those who don’t follow the Marvel or comic book world, Dr. Michael Morbius is a biochemist who was diagnosed with a very aggressive rare blood disorder at a young age which led him to start searching for a cure for his rare disease. However, when searching for the cure, he managed to turn himself into a blood-sucking vampire. He starred alongside “Fast and Furious” actors Tyrese Gibson, Adria Arjona, and Matt Smith. While each star played their role very well, Matt Smith, who played Lucien, Morbius’ best friend, stood out the entire film. Another good perk was the run time of the movie. The run time was 1 hour and 44 minutes, if any longer; the movie would’ve felt like it was being dragged on for no reason.

Now, let’s discuss the bad. First, the movie felt flat the entire time. There was a strong beginning where we met our main characters to get enough information to help develop the story; however, the conflict and rising action were not as exciting as I anticipated. In addition, I was let down by the way the story was told. All the good scenes were unfortunately shown in the trailer, which took away the experience of the actual film itself.

Last, let’s dive into the ugly portion. Okay, before I get started, it wasn’t “ugly” I just wanted to use this opportunity to reference the 1966 old western movie “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” So don’t cancel me on social media. Unfortunately, as advanced as technology is in 2022, I expected the effects to look more realistic and of excellent quality. However, I was let down by it. Some effects felt like I was looking at visuals from Spider-Man 3 from 2008. Since the film was delayed six times, I did have high expectations for the team to go back and possibly fix some effects to look better than they did. One thing I was not a fan of was the random slow-motion shots throughout the film. The first slow motion in the first fight scene was epic and helped add a cool “woah” moment on screen, but it was continuously added throughout the movie, which started to become a little too much for me. Just so it doesn’t seem like I’m bashing the film, I can say that some effects did stand out to me, such as the herd of bats, the shockwaves, changes of the eye color, and the color grading to match the mood of the film. As a VFX student myself, I enjoyed seeing the shockwaves, eye color change, etc., on the big screen because I’m familiar with creating effects like that in After Effects.

Overall, it wasn’t the best film; however, I recommend watching it on digital, DVD, or at the matinee. This movie had massive potential for being an epic horror villain movie but didn’t quite reach that potential. Although, this is only the beginning of this franchise. I highly believe the next film could redeem itself if they get the greenlight for part 2, and hopefully, the team will review audience feedback to see how they can improve. If they get the green light for a second film, since they’ve already built the story from the first film, I anticipate the next movie to have a stronger storyline and better effects. Additionally, maybe Sony and Disney can come to terms with loosening the film’s censoring and making “Morbius” an R-rated horror-like film since Dr. Morbius is one of Spider-Man’s horror-based villains.