Morbius Early Reviews Reveal That This Vampire Film Is a Flop
Morbius, directed by Daniel Espinosa, is the newest installment in Sony's Spiderverse (which, aside from the post-credits sequence in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, does not involve Spider-Man Tom Holland). Dr. Michael Morbius, played by Leto, is a bright scientist with a rare blood illness. Morbius becomes a real vampire after performing a transfusion on himself, afflicted with a desire for blood but with heightened senses and power. Morbius is pitted against Smith's Milo, a wealthy man who is subjected to the same torture as Morbius and utilizes his abilities for evil.
Morbius is one of Spider-Man's most noteworthy enemies, while not being as well-known as the Green Goblin or Venom. Morbius initially appears in 1971's Amazing Spider-Man #101, written by Roy Thomas and penciled by Gil Kane, under the moniker "the Living Vampire" to evade the Comics Code Authority's wrath. Over the years, Morbius has posed a threat to Spider-Man, even sinking his fangs into him on a few occasions (or, in the case of the 1990s animated series, attaching his suction cups to Spidey). During the "Rise of the Midnight Sons" crossover with Ghost Rider and Blade, however, Morbius became more of an anti-hero, even starring in his own 32-issue solo series.
Is it enough to support a feature movie? While Sony's attempt to build a cinematic universe centered on Spider-Man villains has been met with skepticism, the venture has been remarkably successful thus far. Despite receiving mixed to negative reviews from critics, Venom made $856.1 million at the box office in 2018, while the sequel Venom: Let There Be Carnage made 502.1 million in 2021, despite being released amid the epidemic. The results have been so positive for Sony that they've decided to make a Kraven the Hunter feature starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Of course, Tom Hardy's portrayal in the Venom movies was totally insane. Is it possible for Morbius to achieve the same level of success? No, according to early statements.
Well, #Morbius is about as bad as you were expecting. A 2005 plot collides with visually confusing CGI to create a bit of a snooze fest. But don't worry, they've saved the worst for last. Featuring some of the worst post credits scenes you've EVER seen, Sony are off their rocker. pic.twitter.com/TMfVpq95Tn
— Sab Astley (@sab_astley) March 24, 2022
#Morbius proves that no matter how many famous faces or shiny visuals you squeeze in, Sony will always find a way to impressively misunderstand basic storytelling pic.twitter.com/Jxf8bPzi57
— Escape Film Club (@EscapeFilmClub) March 24, 2022
Well #Morbius is unfortunately not great (some really shoddy vfx & 00s formulaic plot) & definitely not as fun as Venom. Really confused at the future of the Sony Spiderverse following the post-credits scenes & the editing ?♀️ Matt Smith is clearly having a blast though! pic.twitter.com/ZCz8aLeUL0
— Nicola Austin (@nicola_aus) March 24, 2022
In #Morbius Matt Smith gloriously hams up the place and Oliver Wood delivers some visual flare to the action sequences.Aside from that, the bad plotting & messy cgi, confusing editing & worse sound mix result in absolute incoherence
— Moon Knight of Ren Geekness (@RenGeekness) March 24, 2022
But the post-credits manage to out do it all pic.twitter.com/NZ878P90z4