Movie Review: Morbius

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C

A fun vampire flick, if far from a top-tier Marvel movie. 

What makes this movie really work is the main character. Michael Morbius is a very well-handled anti-hero. He can be quite likable and easy to root for in some ways. This is heavily due to the good intentions behind much of what he does. However even with good intentions some of his actions can come off as quite morally questionable. This is exactly the kind of character that works perfectly as an anti-hero. This is because under the right or wrong circumstances he can easily be either the hero or the villain of the story, something that will probably come in handy in his inevitable future film appearances. The moral question of how far a person will go to do something that is the right thing and whether one should go against the laws of nature to achieve an idea that is essentially good, is very intriguing and it works quite well here. True thus moral question doesn't get the strong examination that it probably should but it is well handled, when it is examined. Natraully being a movie about a vampire there are some horror moments in this film. These are very well done and are appropriately spooky and atmospheric. This though does make it disappointing that there are so few of these horror scenes. 

This film does have its share of faults though. The main one being the picture's villain. This villain is clichéd and honestly quite bland. You have seen this character in many movies and done quite a bit better. There is an emotional connection between him and Morbius, but unfortunately this is handled in a very clichéd and rushed way, making it hard to feel the connection we are supposed to have. This movie also is full of dialogue that feels really forced and rushed moments of character development. There is also a fault here that I had hoped Superhero movies had left far behind. This is the very darkly lit action scene. The climatic action scene is so darkly lit, that it can be hard to tell what is going on. This does not add atmosphere or a darker edge to these action scenes it just makes them hard to see, and I hope someday we can leave that cliché behind us.    

This may be far from Marvel's finest movies, but it is nowhere near as bad of a film as many critics are saying.