Jared Leto's Morbius: is all about nose-flattening and anaemia!

Director: Daniel Espinosa

Rating:

Based on the Marvel comic, first published in 1971, ‘Morbius’ stars Jared Leto as Michael Morbius, a Nobel Prize winning doctor who has dedicated his life to discovering a cure for the rare blood disorder from which he suffers. In his lab in a busy New York City, Morbius’s research, assisted by the comely Dr Martine Bancroft (Adria Arjona), culminates in a serum derived from vampire bat DNA. But when Morbius injects the stuff into his veins its side effect is devastating, transforming Morbius into a voracious vampire. While he battles to find an antidote, his best friend Milo, also afflicted by the same condition, gets hold of the serum and uses it to pursue his evil intentions of ethical superiority.

Daniel Espinosa is one of the top directors in the world and the most commercially successful Swedish director of all time. With several major Hollywood productions under his belt, Espinosa has time and time again showcased an ability to excel no matter the genre, effortlessly moving between drama and thriller to action and sci-fi. This time takes the story in a radical direction, eschewing the structure of the typical Marvel movie. But in trying to mix genres—horror, thriller, science-fiction, romance—the result is painfully boring. The film feels rootless, without much substance.

The bat-monster, Morbius—a humanoid bat that takes a special serum of his own making, in his battle between good/bad—manifests as something vague, sketchy, and lacking personality. It doesn’t help that the Jared Leto’s performance consists of one expression, with characterisation built only on his physical aspect with greasy long hair, piercing blue eyes.

The original comic book was intended to denounce social injustice; the vampire there ‘to sack the blood of the corrupted.’ “Accept this vow, then: If I must drink blood, let it be the blood of the corrupt -- of those who deserve to die. The blood of the guilt”. But the film says nothing especially probing about the ethical dilemmas facing modern science, or the abuse of corporate power.

For all its style and genre hybridization, Morbius is dull and banal, following the predictable powers of flight, enhanced strength, speed, and healing, and offering a very literal physical transformation of nose-flattening, to appear more bat-like, and skin which becomes extremely pale and anaemic. As such, Morbius departs from vampire traditions to become just another monster who needs to consume blood in order to survive. Waiting for the franchise to start rolling one the next adventure, my prediction is no superhero will be able to rescue our handsome vampire. No Spiderman, no Superman!

By Rita Di Santo