*. Whenever I start to feel like cutting down on the frequency of posts at this site it’s not because I’ve given up on movies totally, but because I feel like I’m running out of new things to say. Here are some things I’ve said before about superhero movies, in relation to Morbius.
*. (1) Origin stories are boring. Nothing new here with the origin of Michael Morbius, a doctor dying of a blood disease that he cures by turning himself into a human-vampire bat hybrid. Which is fine, as origin stories go, but not something you want to spend a lot of time on, especially when the setting is a hospital for sick children.
*. (2) Having a fight at the top of a building is an artificial way of heightening the action. You always have these at the end of a movie.
*. (3) Here’s a quote lifted from my notes on Venom: “Isn’t this the same as a bunch of other Marvel movies where the hero has to fight an evil doppelganger? In Iron Man Tony Stark is supplanted by Obadiah Stane who steals the Iron Monger suit, making him the anti-Iron Man. In Ant-Man, Hank Pym (whose proxy becomes Scott Lang) is supplanted by Darren Cross who becomes Yellowjacket (the anti-Ant-Man). In Black Panther T’Challa is supplanted by Killmonger. In this movie Venom has to take on Riot. Once you know the pattern, you’re just staying to watch them tear up buildings and beat on each other.” So again here, with Michael/Milo being the good vampire/bad vampire, Morbius and anti-Morbius.
*. (4) As we move into a post-superhero era (I hope), are we also transitioning into a post-CGI one? Because is there something CGI can give us that it hasn’t already? As I’ve previously observed, it’s really good with armies (or swarms of anything except insects), giant monsters, and watching cities being destroyed. But we’ve seen all that. And the thing about most CGI today is that we’ve seen it done better. The technology doesn’t seem to be improving. The CGI in Morbius looks bad. I’m sure they were trying for a different look with the way the super-vampires move in a blur, but it’s crap.
*. (5) Every hero is an anti-hero. Director Daniel Espinosa thought Morbius was “just like Venom,” in being a good-bad guy. So much so that at one point Morbius even introduces himself as Venom. Apparently there has been some talk of the two teaming up as they are set in the same (sigh) universe. I can wait.
*. Jared Leto. He seems very intense and committed to his roles, but I’m close to throwing in the towel on him. Though in his defence, it’s just been one terrible role after another I’ve been seeing him in.
*. There’s not much point beating up on a movie like Morbius, as it’s just more of the same and was trashed by critics anyway. I liked the character of Morbius when I was a kid. And going back and re-reading some of the comics recently, both from his early days and in his more modern iterations, I think they stand up. But this movie doesn’t have any creative or original spark to it, no sense of humour, and it feels like they were already thinking not of the sequel but of the reboot before they even finished making it.
*. There are a couple of mid-credit sequences that tease a sequel with Michael Keaton. Again, I can wait. Or wait for the much ballyhooed relaunch of the Blade franchise. Or whatever other sub-Underworld vampire shenanigans Sony/Marvel have in the pipeline. One Morbius movie is enough for me.